Artist
Shozo Michikawa
Japan
Natural ash, twisted and split. The kiln as collaborator.
He fires for days, then splits his pots with a chisel—revealing the fire's work inside.
Shozo Michikawa creates vessels that are as much kiln-made as hand-made. Working in Seto, he fires in a wood kiln for up to a week, allowing natural ash to build on surfaces. Then, after firing, he takes a dramatic step: splitting the vessels with a chisel, opening them to reveal interior surfaces where ash accumulated. The results are primal, geological—forms that seem hewn from volcanic rock.
What might you reveal by breaking something open?