Iwamura said that in Japan, students of arts and crafts are interested in the concept of “folk arts.” “People think great Japanese crafts are made by unknown artists. It’s not artists, it’s more like craftsmen,” he said. “So, an artifact: no need to mention who made it or anything like that.”
Unlike the anonymity of Japanese ceramics, Americans wanted to understand who Iwamura was through his art. “Then I started thinking about where I came from, what I’d learned, what I’d encountered, and why I was in America,” he said. “This is a story I collected about why I wanted to work.”
Iwamura’s craftsmanship reflects the deep cross-cultural history of ceramics. Coil making, the method he uses to create his sculptures, is an ancient technique used around the world. Thousands of years ago, Iwamura explains, “people rolled coils to build jars.” “I still do the same thing. It’s traditional.”
But Iwamura’s finished product is far from traditional in appearance. His head is sculpted with a sweet, simple face like you might see in children’s toys or comics. He sometimes creates full, rounded figures like snowmen or ghosts. Other pieces seem to draw inspiration from nature, looking like mountains or clouds. Prior to the glazing process, Iwamura uses layers of paint of different colors, creating an effect in which the hue appears to change depending on the viewer’s vantage point.
The different textures of Iwamura’s work also represent global traditions. The lines he adds after carving the shapes reference everything from Corded pottery to African masks to Mexican crafts.
Especially when creating installations, Iwamura uses the Japanese concept of “ma,” which he describes as the “negative space” that exists between things. “Things mean not only existing objects, but also time, space, and the relationship between the viewer and the object itself,” he explained in a follow-up letter.
After living in the United States for nearly six years and living in China and France, Iwamura returned to Japan. From 2019 to 2020, he served as the resident artist of Shigaraki Ceramic Culture Park. Now he works out of a former gift shop in the area that he has converted into a studio. Iwamura said he has been in the studio about three days a week since the birth of his first child last year.
His son has provided inspiration for his latest series of works. Iwamura has been making stacked sculptures, placing “random” heads on bodies. The components vary in shape and detail. The body may resemble a podium or a bock with soft horns. The heads have different, odd facial features, such as bulging eyes or triangular noses. The pieces are stacked one on top of the other in unexpected combinations of shapes and colors, like a tall orange head resting on a small bowl-shaped baby blue body.
“I spent a lot of time with him, and he had a lot of toys. All kids’ toys were colorful,” Iwamura said of his one-year-old son’s influence on the series. “He’ll put the cup on an animal or something. It’s a different toy, but the color combination is beautiful and I can find a good balance.”
Because of Shigaraki’s historical connection with ceramics, Iwamura can still rely on local professionals
When he needs help. “We have professional shippers and packers, locals, so they can come to my studio,” he said, mentioning that one local came to his studio to check on what Iwamura needed to ship. A local company also mixes glazes that Iwamura formulates for his pieces.
I think ceramics can be international language itself. ”
However, the decline in the ceramics industry took its toll on Shigaraki. “There were a lot of active factories and people working on ceramics. There were more factories. Very active,” Iwamura explained. “No one wants to continue this business now.”
It’s not just ceramics manufacturing companies that are closing, he added. Clay-related businesses are also affected. Iwamura says this is a “critical” issue, which is why he wants to encourage young people – not just artists – to become part of Shigaraki. “My future goal is to see an updated version of the Shigaraki creator community emerge,” he noted.
Iwamura admits that bringing more people to Shigaraki is a difficult task. “I want to do what I can do,” he said. He said one thing he can do is raise his profile as an artist as a means of bringing more attention to the community. “I want to be one of the great examples of independent artists,” he said. “In the future, I hope to see more young people come to Shigaraki and do better than me.”
He also strives to make his studio as accessible as possible. “Of course, I work alone. I can’t meet everyone who comes to my studio,” Iwamura said. “If I have time and we have the opportunity, I try to keep an open mind. I try to accommodate guests.”
Iwamura said that when Iwamura was a child, he never imagined that one day he would own a studio there. Now, not only does he make ceramics in town, he builds and shapes a community by encouraging others to do the same. He said, “I want to show the possibilities of this kind of creative city.”*
This article was recently published as the cover feature of High Fructose Issue 71. Get a print version of the full issue here.
