vase, Onodera Gen

Exhibition Label:
"Contemporary Ceramics East and West," Feb-2002, Susan Earle, Mary M. Dusenbury
Onodera Gen has stated that he strives to achieve a natural, subtle beauty, a beauty that does not dramatically impose itself, but one that slowly comes forth over time. Deeply interested in the clay itself, he has travelled around the country to dig his own clay and has studied the geological formation of various clays. Visitors to his studio have said that it looks like a geological laboratory, with labeled rocks covering every inch of unused space. Onodera’s shapes are simple, even severe. Here he has incised curved lines in the shape of grasses into the gray-brown clay of the vase and then inlaid white and gray clays in the lines. When the inlay was complete, he incised vertical lines over the entire vase, partially rubbing them out in order to make the design more subdued.