Artist Statement

My potter’s journey started in Italy, when I joined my mother for a La Meridiana workshop. Thanks to that experience, I minored in ceramics with a major in architecture in college. Since then, I’ve had opportunities to observe and learn from many artists globally, and I like to imagine that little bits of everyone show in my work. I enjoy working with the smoothness of porcelain. My pieces tend to be functional, often thrown off the hump, sometimes topped off with little figurines. I like the predictability and orderliness of uniform pots, with the juxtaposition of unexpected lines and colors that happen from the glazing and firing processes. No matter how similar, each piece is different with its own curves, marks and character. For this Lighting the Way submission, I challenged myself to be outside my comfort zone – Guide me to Spring is a porcelain bunny sculpture that’s much bigger than my usual figurines, without a shiny glaze I use for my functional pots but decorated with mason stain, under glazes, and gold luster. It was created when I was out of a day job, so it seemed appropriate to hope that something will guide me to spring!

Artist Bio

Naoko is a potter, born in Japan, raised in the US. She loves creating functional work with porcelain on her kick-wheel. All her pieces are stamped with her first letter “Nao” which could be read “jiki.” As “haku-jiki” means porcelain in Japanese, her brand is labeled “Jiki by Jo,” taking from both her Japanese and American names. Find her as @jikibyjo on Instagram.