A Life in Clay: Pioneer Nisei Ceramicist Toshiko Takaezu

“In my life I see no difference between making pots, cooking, and growing vegetables. They are all related,” artist Toshiko Takaezu once observed. Such a philosophy makes it clear why her pioneering work in ceramics places her at the forefront of breaking down the traditional barriers between functional and sculptural art, a role that has garnered her a place within the pantheon of American ceramicists of the twentieth century.

Toshiko Takaezu currently divides her time between her studio in Quakertown, New Jersey, and her family home in Honolulu, Hawai`i, and travels to exhibitions of her art around the world, but her roots are humble, nurtured in an island culture. Her parents immigrated to Hawai`i from the village of Gushikawa, Okinawa, and Toshiko—one of 11 children—was born on the Big Island in 1922. In the early 1930s the family moved to Maui, and in the late 1930s Toshiko joined her older sisters in Honolulu. An association with the Hawai`i Potter’s Guild led her to study with Claude Horan at the University of Hawai`i.

In 1951 she was accepted to the prestigious Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where she worked with an illustrious group of artists, who included the Finnish ceramicist Maija Grotell; Grotell became a mentor to Takaezu and pushed her to work independently—to find her individual voice within the medium. In 1955 Takaezu journeyed to Japan and Okinawa, spending one winter in an unheated Zen Buddhist temple. For eight months she explored the country and conferred with many of Japan’s top ceramicists, including Hamada Shoji, Kitaoji Rosanjin, and Kaneshige Toyo.

Over the next decades Takaezu developed a unique artistic vocabulary of “closed forms”—rounded hollow shapes that are closed except for a tiny opening to let air escape during the firing process—and expressionistically painted surfaces created with exuberant and energetic glazes. When once pressed to explain her closed forms, in a simultaneously philosophical and matter-of-fact vein she responded, “The most important part of this piece is the black air space that you can’t see.”

But it would be a mistake to regard Takaezu’s art as solely a feast for the mind. Sensory engagement is a key element of her work. As she explains it, “There is something very immediate about clay, so when you touch it, it moves; it’s alive.” This same sense of tactility and immediacy is present in the finished pieces and are enhanced by the visual dynamism of her painted glazes. In some instances she has also added an element of sound: a tiny bead of clay left in the closed interior of a piece produces a rattling sound, which can only be experienced by handling the piece. As Takaezu notes, “I feel the first thing that’s important is to see something you like. The next thing is to have pieces give an invitation to be touched.”

Her work has been collected by institutions throughout the United States and Japan, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Smithsonian Institution, Honolulu Academy of Art, and Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, where she was also honored with an international traveling retrospective in 1998. In her 25-year career teaching at Princeton University, she influenced countless students, and her role as an educator was acknowledged when she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the university, an honor also bestowed by five other institutions: Lewis and Clark College, Moore College of Art, Skidmore College, University of Hawai`i, and University of North Carolina.

Even though she has been honored as a Living Treasure of the states of Hawai`i and New Jersey, Takaezu seems to eschew such accolades, preferring to focus on making art. Now entering her eighty-third year, she still works every day. As she explains it, “There is a need for me to work in clay. It is so gratifying, and I get so much joy from it, and it gives me many answers for my life.”

From the Japanese American National Museum's Member Magazine - Spring/Summer 2005 Issue. National Museum Member Magazine issues can be purchased through the Museum Store Online.