Walking into the Lacoste Gallery in Concord, MA I was struck by the  lightness, strength and movement in the work of Shozo Michikawa, a Japanese ceramicist who combines both slab and wheel methods to create pots resembling objects formed by nature.

Michikawa is “inspired by the power and energy of nature in its every form” and the belief that “nature will  ultimately triumph over science and civilizations,” he writes. “The beauty that nature offers as seen in the formation of rocks, mountains, deserts and the seas are unparalleled and conversely natural disasters brought on by tsunamis, earthquakes and erupting volcanoes cannot be underestimated.”

Accordingly, Michikawa throws clay to build block-like formations on a potter’s wheel, and, often, places a stick in the interior of the form and spins the wheel in different directions–thus creating, according to Atlanta’s  Catherine Fox “torqued, spiraling forms and a sense of dynamism.”   The pots, some of which resemble rocks, riverbeds, or other natural formations, may appear to be as unpredictable as forms created by natural forces.

Writing in Artsati, Fox  describes the pots as “irregular in shape, asymmetrical, roughly textured, and deceptively primitive.” She points out that, ” Unlike most ceramists, who center the clay o n the wheel and build up the walls of the vessel with two hands — one on the interior, one on the exterior — Michikawa effects his sculptural forms by working the decentered clay from the inside out, often poking the interior with a stick to get the shape he wants.” After spinning it on the wheel, Michikawa may “cut away at the exterior with a wire to shape the rodlike protrusions, wedges, flaps and origami folds that give his work an earthy tactility.”

Each piece is then faceted and glazed to mimic the effects of nature, according to Lucy Lacoste, the Concord gallery proprietor.”Built on the potter’s wheel and often twisted on an internal axis, ” the works are sculptural yet retain a core of functional pottery.” That functional core is critical, the artist says, because pottery has been so integral to people’s lives in Japan.”.

Shozo Michikawa at Lacoste Gallery, Concord June 4, 2017

Michikawa was born on the Island of  Hokkaido, the most northern area of Japan, in 1953. After graduating from Aoyama Gakuin University in 1975, he worked in business until evening classes “gave him a passion for clay,” according to a gallery writeup.  Ultimately, he settled in Seto,  one of the sites of the six ancient kilns in Japan.   His exhibitions are held widely in Japan and also internationally, such as Philippines, Mongolia, France, USA, and UK.
“Michikawa’s is a unique talent based on his personal expression of pottery as an art form, Lacoste says.  “His voice is contemporary and poetic. ”

 At  the Lacoste Gallery, 25 Main Street
Concord, MA until June 28, 2917.

–Anita M. Harris

Anita Harris is a Cambridge writer, photographer and communications consultant based Cambridge, MA.
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, also located in Cambridge.

Darcy Badali, Lacoste Opening

Earlier this month,  I much enjoyed the opening of  Lacoste Gallery’s current exhibit, “The Transcendent Vessel,” which features astonishingly-large thrown stoneware vessels by California ceramicist Darcy Badiali.

I especially liked the delicacy of his works, which, in some cases, resemble giant eggshells. Other pieces, he explains, “are reminiscent of plants, stones coral and other objects found in nature, ” with surfaces that look or feel like elephant skin or craters.  While the forms have their origin in function, ” he adds, “the scale lends itself to sculptural issues of space.

Darcy and Tracy Badiali, and assistant

Badiali’s works are included in the permanent collections of Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for the Arts, Alta Loma, CA, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Los Angeles, CA, Kathryn H. Herberger Museum, Tempe, AZ, Daum Museum of Art, Sedalia, MO, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT, and in Shigaraki, Japan in the Shiro Otani Collection. 

At the Lacoste Gallery in Concord MA through May 27. 

—Anita M. Harris
Anita Harris is a writer and photographer based in Cambridge, MA.

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, also in Cambridge.

Much enjoyed the current show at Lacoste--which has long been my favorite Concord, MA, Gallery. This time, owner and former ceramicist Lucy Lacoste is featuring the work of ceramicist Don Reitz– pieces from as far back as the 1960s through equally-if-not-more exciting work from 2014, just before he passed away in his 80’s.

As Lacoste explains, “Don Reitz is one of the great geniuses of contemporary ceramics and was devoted to clay, color and expression throughout his career.

“The show  encompasses three periods in the Reitz’s career– the Sara series, in which he used color to narrative stories on earthenware clay, his wood-fire period using fire and ash for expression, and his color with wood-fire and salt, which was a summation of the many elements in his life works.

‘There are also connector pieces that led from one period to the next such as the colorful plates that preceded the use of color in the Sara series and earthenware with expressive brushwork that came at the end of his life.”

My favorite pieces were those embodying both painting and sculpture. That is, ceramics in the three-dimensional form of brush strokes, incorporating  and exhibiting both color and motion. 

 
According to Lacoste, “The driving force in Reitz’ life was to be an artist and communicate through his art.  As a youth with dyslexia, he found making marks in dirt to be expressive. He took this into his ceramics throughout his career with markings on clay being his personal language. His marks, symbols and signature were always important to him whether in his salt-fire work, where the salt melted in firing to become a revealing skin; or in the ‘Sara’ period where everything was a mark or symbolic imagery done with a colorful palette; or wood-fire where the marks were revealed through the ash. The artist has always approached his work intuitively and expressively.

I Go Without Fear, 1984, earthenware, low-fire salt with engobes,

“Among the pieces in the show is a  wall plaque I Go Without Fear, 1984, earthenware, low-fire salt with engobes, 2 x 25 x 20” from his ‘Sara’ series.  Reitz’s ‘Sara Series’ was born of adversity: while he recovered from a serious car accident and his young niece from cancer, the two exchanged drawings in what amounted to a healing partnership. A childlike sensibility with color and form in abundant informs Reitz’s work from this period. This is an endearing yet powerful work showing a stick figure cautiously and optimistically moving out into the world.

Jammin’

“Jammin’, 2013 is a powerful triptych being shown for the first time from the private collection of his family.  This piece stands out for its bold, dynamic color and free calligraphic painting.  It is one of the strongest and largest of his series of triptych showing the artist at his most painterly.”
The exhibition is free and open to the public and is wheel chair accessible.
Through March 27, 2017 at the
Lacoste Gallery
25 Main Street • Concord, MA 01742
978.369.0278 • www.lacostegallery.com

–Anita M. Harris

Anita M. Harris is a writer, photographer and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA. 
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, also in Cambridge, MA.