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E-mail:
jr@studio-pots.com |
68 Greenwich High Road, London SE10 8LF, England Telephone: +44
(0) 20 8692 7170
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Born in Yamagata, Japan in 1941, Keiko Hasegawa comes from a family
that for 14 generations was engaged in the production of cast iron and
bronze, some of which was used in the Japanese Tea Ceremony. In fact she
studied cast design herself in Tokyo before becoming interested in pottery.
Her experimenting with ceramics resulted in her taking up potting seriously
in the pottery centre of Mashiko in 1972. In 1977 Keiko came to the UK and began working for
Michael Leach at his pottery in Yelland on the North Devon coast. Although
she was there for a little over a year, I suspect from speaking to Keiko that
many of Michael’s values about producing pottery for use are still very much
her way of thinking. Following her stay with Michael Leach, Keiko went
to Norway where she began producing raku, which she continued to do upon her
return to Devon. However, in recent years her production has tended to focus
on stoneware, with a little porcelain, which she reduction fires up to a
temperature of between 1280 and 1290 degrees Celcius in a gas kiln. Throughout
her career Keiko has not been afraid to work with the commercial sector,
having in the past exhibited her work at the Villeroy & Boch Keramik-Museum
in Germany and with the Queensberry Hunt Design Consultancy in this country.
Even today she is carrying out freelance work for Rosenthal and has made
tableware for many Japanese restaurants in the UK. Alongside her one-off
exhibition pots, there will be items of tableware and pottery associated with
the Tea Ceremony on show at the Harlequin, as it seemed important to allow
Keiko to display all aspects of her repertoire. Although
Keiko’s exhibition list is impressive, with solo exhibitions at the British
Museum, the Barbican Centre and Libertys in London, the Rijksmuseum in Leiden
Holland, as well as galleries around Europe, this Harlequin Gallery
exhibition will be her first in this country for six years. In the interim
period she has regularly shown her work in Japan but I am glad that she agreed to make her UK
“reappearance” here in Greenwich. Below
are a few items included in the exhibition. |
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Height:
22.4cm (8.8”) |
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Accompanying
Keiko’s ceramics will be a few examples of calligraphy by Shiryu Morita. To
see examples click here |
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