Living in the Bone House
Ceramic Art Residency Sasama, Japan, 2023
This project is part of a bigger arc of work initiated last summer ~ (Be)longing for Home, 2022. I spent two months in Atlantic Canada on the land where my settler ancestors lived and died visiting graves, homesteads, doing extensive archival and genealogical research and delving into personal explorations around decolonization. When I came home I started working with clay in new ways. I moved away from making vessels and started sculpting forms. I began to see something original emerge in my work with clay and the forms sparked an inquiry into bones and living in the bone house, which is derived from an Anglo-Saxon kenning [Ban-hus / banhus] signifying the body.
I came to know this project as “Living in the Bone House” and, with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, participated in an art residency in Sasama, Japan, with Shozo Michikawa, from April 17th to June 16th, 2023.
During this art residency I challenged myself to create bigger and more complex sculptures, which was a hugely successful achievement! I feel like my technical skills grew exponentially and I was able to execute my vision for forms I couldn't have done prior to this experience. With Shozo's guidance, I experimented with different clays and glazes, which turned out to be a great learning opportunity and allowed me to see new possibilities. I will probably never be able to say that I fired a Hotarugama kiln (wood fire) through a typhoon again!
Now, being back on the Sunshine Coast, the project continues to evolve as I work with local clay, earth pigments, and more directly with the land. This expansion is part of a longing to participate in a life that is multidimensional and full of beauty rather than just pursing my own pleasure. We have lived so long in the stark barrenness of a rational landscape that we have forgotten the potency that lies beneath the surface. What is within us is within everything…this work is an investigation into (re)membering this deep connection with all of life.
Highlighted on this page are the sculptures and short films made during my art residency in Japan.
My work evolved while in Sasama partly because I was limited to only five pieces in the wood kiln during my two month residency but I also critically examined our growing culture of materialism and my need to turn clay into permanent ceramic forms through firing. Immersing myself in rural Japanese culture, and, specifically, the influence of ancient Shinto "way of the gods", opened a portal for me to begin to work more intimately with the land. I became more interested in fluidity and impermanence by experimenting with creating earth sculptures on the land and taking clay sculptures I made in the tea fields of my backyard to a special place and documenting their return to the earth. This felt like a big letting go, surrender, and opening into something new.
Aorta (6" x 6" x 6") ~ Shino and natural ash glaze, wood fired
Listening with the Ears of the Heart (6" x 7" x 7") ~ iron glaze, wood fired
Kokoro Rising (6" x 6" x 6") ~ natural ash glaze, twice wood fired
Shincha (7" x 2" x 2") ~ oribe glaze, wood fired
“All that Remains”
“Held” Over time, rain, wind, weather and typhoon washed all remains of the clay away until there was no evidence anywhere.
“Beyond Form” is my first attempt at filming a form as it dissolves from the currents of the water. I took a short film of it and then went for lunch. When I came back I was surprised to see how quickly it fell apart. It only took 2 hours from start to finish for this form to be beyond itself.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts
for realizing Living in the Bone House Project at wabisavillage, Japan, this year.