DEA EAST presents award winning Japanese potter, Kazuya Ishida.

This will be a significant exhibition of his work and Kazuya will be in attendance to speak about his process and vision.

As well as work from his home studio in Bizen, the show will contain selected pieces from his recent workshops in Australia, including Arcadia Cooroy on the Sunshine Coast and Canberra Potters.

Kazuya Ishida was born into a family of potters in the historic Japanese ceramic town of Bizen. After studying extensively in Japan and the UK, he returned to Bizen to carry on the family business, and now spends his time making, exhibiting and teaching in Japan and around the globe.

As an accomplished and masterful potter, Kazuya moves effortlessly between many styles and forms. However he's best known for his signature "spiral" technique, which he applies to cups, vases and sculptural pieces - an original technique that makes use of the centrifugal force of the potter's wheel. The other part of his unique style is a specialisation in slipware, a traditional British technique that uses coloured mud to create patterns on the vessel.

Using limited materials, in line with the Bizen tradition (specifically, natural clay and natural ash glazes), Kazuya explores the rhythms and patterns of Nature.

The contemporary forms of his work are a reflection of the primordial, rippled textures and patterns of the ocean bed, tectonic shifts of a cliff face, and the marks that ebbing tides have left on rock pools, pebbles and seashells.

After graduating from high school, Kazuya embarked on extensive ceramics training across Japan, including time with Jun Isesaki, considered a Living National Treasure of Bizen ware. He then proceeded to work and study in the UK, eventually taking up an Artist Residency at Oxford University and building a Bizen style Anagama kiln there.

He now spends his time between producing work in Bizen and an extensive demonstration and teaching schedule, where he generously shares his knowledge. He has also exhibited extensively in Japan, the UK, the US and France, and has been the recipient of countless awards.

This exhibition at DEA EAST will include work from Bizen, as well as selected pieces made during his current Australian visit, including Anagama wood firings from Arcadia Cooroy on the Sunshine Coast and work produced at Canberra Potters.

Please join us at DEA EAST to meet this exciting and dynamic artist and experience his work first hand. Kazuya will be in attendance at the opening on Friday evening, and his work will remain on show over the weekend.

All work from this exhibition will be released online at 10am on Sat, 29th October 2022.

Also see our current selection of work by Kazuya, exclusively at DEA.

Read more about this artist.