Pioneering Ceramicist Toshiko Takaezu
Toshiko Takaezu was one of the most influential ceramicists and ceramics teachers of the 20th century. Learn more about her life, impact, and connection to Clay Art Center.
Since its founding in 1957, Clay Art Center has been a communal hub, attracting ceramic artists and enthusiasts from all across the country. Some of those artists have stayed for years, making our studios their creative home, while others have just passed through, leading or attending a workshop or taking part in an exhibition. Regardless of their tenure, everyone who finds their way to Clay Art Center leaves their mark. While ceramicist Toshiko Takaezu was never a member or student at Clay Art Center, her path through clay was intertwined with those of founders Katherine Choy and Henry Okamoto, and Takaezu’s friendship with Okamoto would bring her to Port Chester on a number of occasions.
Toshiko Takaezu (1922-2011) was one of eleven children born to Japanese immigrant parents in Pepeekeo, Hawaii. The traditional Japanese household that the family maintained and the sweeping natural vistas of her island home both shaped Takaezu’s artistic outlook. Takaezu was first introduced to clay as a teenager when she got a job at the Hawaii Potter’s Guild, a production pottery in Honolulu, in 1940. The job at the Potter’s Guild provided Takaezu with the opportunity to spend time with clay, developing her technical skills and a deep understanding of clay process. Through the work and the people she met, Takaezu was also introduced to the possibilities of a creative life, and she eventually decided to study ceramics at the University of Hawaii.
In 1951, Takaezu began a four year program of study at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. She studied ceramics with the famed ceramicist Maija Grotell, and weaving with the influential textile designer Marianne Strengell. That same year, Katherine Choy attended her post-graduate year at Cranbrook, practicing the same disciplines with the same teachers. While archival records documenting their interactions have yet to be found, they must have known one another, and it’s possible they would have worked together frequently. There is also no clear record of how Takaezu became friends with Henry Okamoto, but more documentation of their connection survives. One thank you letter, preserved in the Clay Art Center archive, shows that Okamoto was able to perform a tricky fix on one of the kilns at Takaezu’s studio. Through her connection with Okamoto, Takaezu also led workshops at Clay Art Center in the 70s and 80s, demonstrating what had become her signature rounded, closed sculptural form, which would then serve as a canvas for various glazes, applied in an organic fashion that Takaezu likened to a dance.
Feb 9th
Dear Henry: Just a short note to say, wishing you the best for 1988! I just got back from Hawai’i where I had an exhibition and was kept busy with open workshop - etc., etc. - but now I am back + will start working in a few days. I have good thoughts for you and hoping you are feeling alright. Take care + stay warm!
Sincerely, ToshikoI want to thank you for your help in fixing my kiln, under very difficult conditions.
Toshiko Takaezu to Henry Okamoto, 1988
Takaezu also cultivated a teaching practice that emphasized personal exploration and expression, just as she had been nurtured by Grotell. After years of teaching at universities and other institutions, she began hosting an immersive, live-in apprenticeship at her home studio in Quakertown, New Jersey in 1975. Today, Takaezu is considered one of the foremost Abstract Expressionist ceramicists. Her legacy is preserved and promoted by the Toshiko Takaezu Foundation, founded in 2015, and her home lives on as the Takaezu Studio, home to the largest collection of the artist’s work and remains an active pottery studio.