TAKESHI YASUDA's Porceain Bowl no. 2303
Stuart Dickens is the Gallery at Bevere’s Ceramic Curator.
He admits to this being his third career and arguably the most satisfying. Initially working in the pottery at Bevere after his retirement, it was his lifelong interest in ceramics and his knowledge of pots and potters that led to him becoming a member of the Gallery team arranging the Gallery’s extensive programme of exhibitions.
His choice is clearly a personal one but hopefully it will always feature an exceptional and distinctive voice in studio ceramics.
This month’s choice is an easy one to make. There are only a handful of potters working in the UK whose work evokes immediate recognition and critical acclaim, amongst them is Takeshi Yasuda, who, in the words of Paul Rice in his book British Studio Ceramics, “is now one of the finest Oriental potters working in Britain”.
This pot is one which has come from the Jingdezhen Pottery Workshop Experimental Factory in China where Takeshi has been the Director for over two years.
What makes this work special? The Yasuda hallmarks are all here – the loose organic throwing which takes the vessel almost to the point of collapse; the luminescence of the celadon glaze and in this case the precision of the gold decoration, which covers the inside of the pot with an ‘oh so precise’ meeting with the lip.
Sensual is the word often used to describe his work and this is a certainly a sensuous vessel. This pot has great presence. It needs space and the status which should be accorded to the great, rather than the merely good pot. This is the work of a master potter who has complete control of his material and the consummate skill to fully express his imagination.
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