Touching Stone Gallery featured artists' works

Available Showpieces* from Touching Stone Gallery * These are shipped from Santa Fe Click on images to view selected pieces Inquiry/Order
Tadashi Ito	Fusako Akao	Yoshitaka Hasu	Keiichi Shimizu
Tadashi Ito (b.1952) Winner of many prestigious awards including Musee Tomo Prize, Tadashi Ito studied geology in college. A trip to India to visit Bodh Gaya where the Buddha attained enlightenment changed his life forever. Upon returning to Japan, he dedicated his life to be an artist. Ito's work is noted for their simple yet sophisticated and elegant forms inspired by nature, seashells in particular. Looking into Ito's sculptural work is like peering into an eroded half-exposed seashell. He once said that looking into a seashell is like being let to glimpse upon some hidden secret of the universe.
Tadashi Ito Quintessence No.7 Ceramic form, 13" x 6" x 7"h (2011; 2 views) $2,000
Tadashi Ito "Quintessence No.5" Ceramic form, 9" x 9" x 8"h (2011; 2 views) $2,000
Tadashi Ito Ceramic vase form #11, 15" x 9" x 7" (2009; 2 views) $2,000
Tadashi Ito Quintessence No.2 Ceramic form, 14.5"h x 9" x 7" (2013; 2 views) $2,400
Yoshitaka Hasu (b.1949) Yoshitaka Hasu (b.1949) earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering before pursuing a career as a potter. He apprenticed with renowned ceramist Shiro Banura (1941-2001). Banura was strongly inspired by Rozanjin (1883-1959), a famed ceramist and novelist with a discriminating taste, who advocated living with art. This philosophy, which blurs the distinction between utility and art, has been a major influence on Hasu’s work. In 1979, Hasu established his own studio in Iga, where he has been producing some of the most original and exciting work built upon the Iga tradition and this philosophy. Hasu's engineering background is apparent in his distinctive work. These two pieces from his 2009 and 2011 exhibitions show his signature black on green finish, achieved by use of iron glaze and wood-firing.
Yoshitaka Hasu "Vase No.18" Wood-fired ceramic w/ natural ash glazes, 8" x 8" x 9"h (2011; 2 views) $1,200
Fusako Akao (b.1950) Fusako Akao (b. 1950) studied ceramic art in Gifu National University and apprenticed with renowned ceramist Kiyoyuki Kato in Seto. One of her earliest work entitled 'Ruins' won the Grand Prize in Asahi Ceramic Exhibition in 1987, setting her direction towards conceptual art in her productive career. Akao’s work is a tribute to nature. She sees the natural world as a slice in time in eons of a changing process - each soil particle, each drop of water holding memories of its creation. Her aim is to reveal the innate beauty in her medium. Her style is powerful and dynamic. She sculpts with swift, intuitive movements, and she uses traditional glazes to transform her work into beautiful landscapes that evoke jagged mountains, turquoise streams, or luminous ice crystals. This piece 'Memory of Time F4' is from her 2012 America debut exhibition. It features Green Oribe glaze running down the interior of a largely unglazed body decorated with white porcelain bits.
Fusako Akao "Memory of Time F1" Ceramic sculpture 9.5" x 4.5" x 6.5"h (2012; 3 views) $800
Fusako Akao "Memory of Time B3" Ceramic sculpture 10" x 5" x 5.5"h (2012; 2 views) $1,100
Fusako Akao "Memory of Time R4" Ceramic sculpture 9" x 5" x 4"h (2012; 2 views) $800
Keiichi Shimizu (b.1962) Keiichi Shimizu, a 4th generation potter, was born in 1962 in Tanba Tachikui. He studied pottery at Kyoto City Vocational School. After graduation in 1984, he returned to Tachikui and launched a productive career as one of the most innovative ceramic artists in the area. Unlike most other traditional Tanba potters who base their works largely on wheel-thrown vase forms, Shimizu develops many original forms from slab-built surfaces. He is especially interested in three-dimensional interplay of lines and surfaces, using clay of contrasting colors and textures to accentuate such interactions. His works show a strong minimalist influence, with clean lines and taut surfaces. Curves are used sparingly and purposefully, to introduce tension that seems to hold together the stark geometry. The results are deceptively simple forms that belie great conceptual sophistication and meticulous attention to details, a perfect balance between quiet traditional Japanese aesthetic and dynamic modern interpretation.
Keiichi Shimizu Toubako No.1 11" x 5" x 4.5"h (2011; 2 views) $800

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