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Peter's Pottery and Photographs are all from a period living in Japan, between February 1999 and December 2001. Japanese pottery is very diverse in character and production. There are small and large factories, artisan or family operations, small scale or fully commercial, traditional pottery villages and towns, large recreational pottery centres and hobby-potter studios and schools. There are ceramic highschools and colleges as well as regional training centres. Ofcourse there are many museums and galleries. Visiting these places, and seeing pottery production as an ordinary part of life was much in contrast to the rarefied pottery scene of other industrialised countries. Pottery in Japan is affected economically as much as any industry, and so cannot be said to be any more buoyant than other industry. The specific reasons why Japan still does have this advantage would be as much social and cultural, rather than just economic. The fact that there are so many examples of long term, ceramic production, and there is so much of a range of facilities and associated activity, makes a visit to Japan very enlightening. To the student, novice, or craft-potter of the many countries where pottery is studied, Japan provides a true sense of pottery production. In Japan, with its large population and its diverse pottery and craft industry, there was just so much more to see and experience. For that reason the period in Japan provided substance to the potters' view of the world and to reaffirm the working principles inherent in a potters' work. While the reality of life in many countries does not provide a potter with a craftpersons autonomy such as possible in Japan, still there are the principles of craft production which can survive in the potter. This is true, even when, apart from a few examples, it would survive only in the form of the hobby-potter. Although the ideals and practices that a potter carries can now be out of date, they are not out of meaning, and hold a relevance, far beyond economics or status. |
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 Gallery One Gallery Two
Gallery Three |
