Between 1973 and 1993, Mori also served as an instructor for the Nagoya Ceramic Club, whose membership read like who is who in the financial and cultural circles of the time. Mori considers that time an important period for him to 'grow as a human being'. His interest in foreign cultures prompted him to study Thai folk art and travel to Thailand through a Japan-Thailand cultural exchange program. Some of Mori’s most important works are an amalgam of unique multicultural perspectives.

1985 marked an important turn in Mori's career. He established his studio and kiln in a beautiful hillside location in Komono-Cho. His artistic focus shifted from the West back towards Japan. Since the 1990s, he produced series after series of highly original works that could rightfully be called artistic tour de force - the "Kanzashi" and "Matoi" series inspired by Japanese woman's hair-pins, the "Enku" series in honor of the 16th-century Japanese Zen monk Enku, the "Tale of Genji" series that paid homage to the Heian period Japanese classic. Despite the diverse themes of his works, a common hallmark is a sense of speed and freedom, as if each piece was created in an instant with one sweeping gesture - spontaneous, irrepressible, irreproducible.

In 1997, in recognition to his contributions to contemporary Japanese ceramic art, Mori was selected among twenty-one Japanese artists profiled in the title "Toward a 21st Century Renaissance in Ceramics" (Dohosha Ltd. publisher). Peter Voulkos (1924-2002), known for pushing ceramic craft in American to an art form, wrote in this volume: "Their commitment is very ambitious and (their) risk taking generates an excitement that at once transcends the boundaries that have constrained the development of new ideas and possibilities that ceramics can afford."

Such creativity did not go un-noticed. In 2004 and 2005, Mori launched two spectacular exhibitions entitled "Abstracted Passion" and "Enku" in Touching Stone Gallery in Santa Fe, America. In 2008, his "Tale of Genji" was exhibited in the Daikakuji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. In 2010, he was invited to exhibit in Paris, France. The following year, he was nominated as a member of International Academy of Ceramic; and he held another major exhibition in 2011 in Mullen, France.

In 2012, Mori's long artistic endeavor cumulated in a retrospective exhibition in Paramita Museum, Japan. That exhibition, entitled "Exuberant Forms - Fifty-year Trajectory of Tadashi Mori's Ceramic Art", included nearly three hundred pieces spanning Mori's entire career. It is hard to overstate the significance of his contributions to contemporary ceramic art in Japan.

The current show, featuring Mori's new works and selected pieces from his recent retrospective exhibition, provides a glimpse of the genius of this extraordinary artist.

Click on images to view selected pieces

Inquiry/order: director@touchingstone.com, see Inquiry/Order