Yukiya Izumita  泉田　之也  

Izumita (b. 1966) grew up in Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan in an area with high mountains, deep forests and beautiful sea shores. After college, he worked for three years in Tokyo but decided that the populous metropolis was not for him. In 1992, he followed his true calling and returned north to take up an apprenticeship in pottery making under Kokuji-yaki master Gakuho Simodake. In 1995, Izumita established his own kiln in Noda Mura in Iwate Prefecture. In the same year, his innovative work won an Excellence Award in the Nittshin Menbachi Grand Prize Exhibition, the first of a series of prestigious honors which include two Grand Prizes in the 2000 and 2002 Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibitions, and an Excellence Award in the prestigious Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition in 2009.

The first impression of Yukiya Izumita's work is often one of amazement. One seldom expects to see clay honed to razor-thin edges, torn apart, twisted at impossible angles like giant origami, to create shapes that exude quiet beauty and tension, forms that appear unpolished and at the same time complete. Great technical expertise is required to create such work, which stands out even among the most creative contemporary Japanese ceramics.

Beyond the innovative forms and technical brilliance, Izumita's creations are meant to convey deeper meanings. Passage of time is often implicit in each piece, whether it suggests deeply fissured boulders, a dried up and cracked stream bed or erosion-exposed bedrocks. To capture the raw power and beauty of earth, Izumita uses clay from his area, and blends in sand and stones to create a unique clay body with the right combination of resilience and texture. He keeps his forms simple, with purposeful lines and surfaces to convey his visions. Glazes are used only to complement his visions, with warm-toned glazes to enhance earthy textures, and cold-toned glazes to evoke water.

In 2011, Izumita’s home town was hit by the devastating Tohoku tsunami ¹. The disaster heightened Izumita’s awareness of the fragility of life and laid bare the irony between nature’s beauty and terrifying power. He felt as if he were a speck of dust in this world, being kept alive only by the grace of nature. At any moment, everything could be taken away and turned into a pile of dirt. In the aftermath of that experience, Izumita channeled his emotions to produce spectacular works that speak of the inseparable nature of beauty and decay, destruction and renewal - an integral character of natural cycles and the very essence of Japanese aesthetic. 

1. Izumita’s experience of the disaster on his art was published in an article entitled Still Point in Ceramics Art & Perception, Vol. 91, p.80-83, 2013.