CARVING WHITE TRANSLUCENCE Peter Hamann

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1 CARVING WHITE TRANSLUCENCE Peter Hamann

2 Sculpted Celadon Tea Bowl with Wave Pattern, 2018 h. 3 x dia. 5 3/8 in. (7.8 x 13.6 cm) CARVING WHITE TRANSLUCENCE: Peter Hamann Exhibition Dates: September 6-22, 2018 Onishi Gallery is honored to present, Carving White Translucence: Peter Hamann, a solo exhibition of leading ceramic artist Peter Hamann. Born in Nebraska in 1956, Hamann moved to Japan as a young adult to study Yabunouchi-style tea ceremony. His passion for Japanese culture led him to stay in Japan and pursue the ceramic arts, ultimately enabling him to teach Japanese ceremonial tea techniques and gain his Japanese citizenship. This exhibition showcases the stunning and innovative ceramic pieces that Hamann has refined over the decades, uniquely drawing upon his American roots and Japanese aesthetics. On perfectly rounded spheres, delicate angular patterns are carved into polished blue-white porcelain, visible to the eye and sensible to the touch but still unreal in their masterful execution. Hamann s work falls into the category of kōgei functional ware that is celebrated for its beauty as much as for its utility. Because of his unusual position as an American ceramic master of this Japanese art form, Hamann has been able to expand the boundaries of kōgei. He writes, "My work reflects many things that Japanese people often say that no Japanese artists would ever think of or do, and yet at the same time, I am also a champion of the functional beauty of kōgei, something I hope to always preserve in my pieces. The looseness of my work probably derives from my American spirit, my willingness to improvise along with a strong desire to keep my porcelain pieces softer and more natural to make them interesting and active." The contrast of smooth circular forms with sharp geometric surface designs creates a tension that draws the eye around and across the form in continuous loops. Hamann intentionally creates this dynamic, noting that, "The shape itself and the carved pattern need to create motion, which is my prime objective, but the final piece must also have a degree of stability." Hamann s life experience itself, spanning continents and crossing cultural contexts, has also balanced motion and stability, setting the stage for his creative expression of this negotiation in clay. Integrating his native-born American sensibilities with his long-studied Japanese aesthetic awareness, Hamann creates simply perfected shapes that glimmer in blue-white glaze and porcelain possibility. As former Director of the Milwaukee Museum of Art, Daniel T. Keegan, has said of Hamann s work, "It is loaded with richness: a balance of form and subtlety; the careful melding of shape and surface treatment; stability yet weightlessness; clarity of color and a perfect fit of glaze to clay; a celadon blue as pure as morning light breaking thin through humid warm air in summer, pooling just right in creases and carvings resulting in translucence of form. But it is also a translucence of esthetic sensual, rhythmic, precise, changing and poetic. Only a lifetime of study and the resulting mastery can bear these results. " Do not miss this opportunity to see such mastery of material. Nana Onishi Owner and Director, Onishi Gallery

3 Meeting the Prerequisite A Recollection and Observations It was well over 40 years ago that Peter Hamann walked into the ceramic studio at Graceland College (now Graceland University). I was a new teacher, fresh out of graduate school and in the midst of moving several tons of clay from the studio to the storage shed before classes were to start for the semester. Without any words exchanged, Peter immediately started moving the clay, 50 and 100 lb. bags, one at a time, carrying them in the hot August heat and humidity. As we worked side-by-side, sweating, lifting, carrying and stacking bags, and getting very dirty, I learned that he was majoring in chemistry but had an interest in art and ceramics in particular. He asked if he could enroll in my class even though he did not have the necessary course prerequisite. As we finished moving the clay I remember telling him that he had met the only prerequisite that mattered willingness to work hard without being asked. That willingness to work hard is what has led to Peter s incredibly beautiful ceramics today. Even in his early college ceramic work he was a tireless experimenter, trying out new glazes in every kiln firing, experimenting with new forms, seeking solutions to problems that were only his mountains to climb, not mere assignments. Metallic salt fuming in an electric kiln, raku smoking techniques with unusual materials, salt glaze firing, and of course, working in porcelain, were all part of his personal laboratory of learning. It was Peter who stood out the most, a student dedicated beyond the ordinary level of creative exploration, someone in pursuit of the exceptional. For Peter, even then, the exceptional was the purity, the translucence and the enormous challenge of working in porcelain. I was not surprised when he informed me one day that he intended to travel the world, New Zealand, Australia, Japan perhaps, since he had been studying the language in college. And I was not surprised when I learned several years later that, in Japan, he found home. There, he found the spiritual connection that would ground him throughout his entire career where he found an esthetic that mirrored his own deep seeded beliefs in the power of form, the beauty of precision craftsmanship, and the values gained from centuries of tradition that underpin an esthetic, a belief system, a way of life. His love for Japan is genuine and deep. He immersed himself in the culture, and learned to speak, read and write the language fluently. He mastered the way of tea, a most arduous and demanding study taking thousands of hours to perfect, if that is even possible. It is said that the joy of teaching is to learn from the student. As I look back on my career as a professor of art and then later as a museum director, there are intersections with very special individuals who stand out, who one learns from, and whose art has a magic about it. Peter Hamann is at the top of that list. What can I say about Peter s exceptional ceramics in this exhibition that is not already apparent or written? Peter has been accepted into the Japan Kōgei Association, the most selective organization in Japan art/craft circles. This says a lot about the growing internationalism of kōgei, but more importantly it speaks volumes about the quality of Peter s work. It is loaded with richness: a balance of form and subtlety; the careful melding of shape and surface treatment; stability yet weightlessness; clarity of color and a perfect fit of glaze to clay; a celadon blue as pure as morning light breaking thin through humid warm air in summer, pooling just right in creases and carvings resulting in translucence of form. But it is also a translucence of esthetic sensual, rhythmic, precise, changing and poetic. Only a lifetime of study and the resulting mastery can bear these results. Sculpted White and Blue-White as Self-Portrait I first meet Peter Hamann 12 years ago in 2016 and came to know his white and blue-white porcelain pieces, which are impressive particularly for the beautiful designs carved into the surfaces of elegant forms with a commanding presence. At the time, I was preparing for an exhibition in The Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo, where I work. When I called Mr. Hamann on the phone to ask him to submit some pieces, I was surprised by the fluency and beauty of the Japanese he spoke. When I met him in person, he appeared to be a typically friendly, blue-eyed American, and yet he lived in an old Japanese-style house in a country village surrounded by the mountains and rural scenery, and he was more familiar than most Japanese people with Japan s unique sense of beauty as expressed in Japanese culture and wabi-sabi In a career that extends over more than 40 years, Mr. Hamann has become a prominent presence in Japanese ceramics as an "orthodox" ceramic artist who loves and respects traditional Japanese kōgei and the Way of Tea. In addition, he is the only person of Western descent to have become a full member of the Japan Kōgei Association, which functions as the center of traditional kōgei in Japan. (However, Mr. Hamann obtained Japanese citizenship in 2015, officially making him Japanese.) What is truly interesting is that even though Mr. Hamann s identity as a German American is important to him, he also works hard to gain a deep understanding of Japan. In other words, he takes his position as a foreigner who has deepened his understanding of Japan to sincerely approach traditional Japanese kōgei and the Way of Tea and use what he learns in his ceramic work. His strength lies in the essence that has emerged from this unique background. The result is that whether Mr. Hamann makes a lidded box or a vase, the piece becomes a self-portrait of what he has become. Although Mr. Hamann feels an attraction to the wabi-sabi esthetic, what he makes are beautifully white, hard porcelain pieces. His porcelain artworks, which demand mastering materials and firing methods and pursuing perfection in form without warping or drooping may at first seem distant from the world of wabi-sabi Mr. Hamann says, "I give priority to the forms." He starts by throwing the basic form on a potter s wheel, and then alters and carves it to adjust the final form that will determine the overall appearance of the piece. Then he carves sharp edges and lines on the piece in response to the overall form. The depth of carving, the strength of the lines, the asymmetric placement of patterns, they all change the expression of the piece, and the trick is knowing when to stop. The strength of the piece as a 3D object and whether the piece is worthy to be called "sculpted" is all determined at this point. Mr. Hamann uses the terms "sculpted white porcelain" and "sculpted blue-white porcelain" to aptly describe the sculptural nature of his work. Mr. Hamann says that in the past he made very textured porcelain pieces to express undulations of earth, and in fact his sharp sense of form may be closer to that of a sculptor. In recent years, Mr. Hamann has incorporated design aspects from objects and scenery around him, such a dynamic expression of overlapping curved lines that spread out from the center as if by centrifugal force, patterns of overlapping neck bands from kimonos, and even the patterns of lattice work from the windows in his tea room. As he integrates these elements with forms, his work continues to mature. But at the foundation of that evolution is Mr. Hamann s interpretation of wabi-sabi together with his own identity. Makiko Sakamoto-Martel, Curator at The Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo, Japan. Daniel T. Keegan is the former Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum and was a professor of art at Graceland College. He holds an MFA degree in ceramics and lives in Upstate New York.

4 Peter Hamann s Ceramics: A Deep Sense of the Way of Tea In the Way of Tea, the sound of the kettle boiling is likened to the sound of the wind through the branches of pine trees ( matsukaze or shourai). Behind this is a Zen saying that goes which is read "Ganshou Mushin, Kaze Kitarite Ginzuru" in Japanese. It means a pine on a rocky cliff without thought lets the branches chant as the wind blows. This saying reflects the teachings of the Way of Tea in that the wind, free from thought and without color or sound of its own, and the pine, also free from thought, create a sound that is beautiful just because of the absence of thought and concepts. If you listen with all of your senses wide open, you can hear the subtle changes in the sound of the kettle as it boils. In a tea event, the sound of the kettle boiling serves to guide the participants from the everyday to the extraordinary. Of course the dimensions and combination of the tea things used are also important, and even a few millimeters of difference in those dimensions can change the atmosphere of the tea room. And to appreciate all of this requires a serenity and a sense of tension in a tea room. The Way of Tea is otherworldly and lets people experience the extraordinary in the midst of everyday routines. Is an important place for spiritual interaction between the host and guests. But why am I talking about this, you ask. It is because I believe that the esthetic of the Way of Tea is at the heart of the ceramic art created by Peter Hamann. Peter has been a ceramic artist for 44 years and has studied the Way of Tea in the Yabunouchi Style for 32. He spends his days dedicated to ceramics and also practices the Way of Tea in his daily life. He may be more passionate about this than the Japanese people themselves. His ceramic works center around the "sculpted blue-white porcelain" and "sculpted white porcelain" of his sculpted series and are typified by large lidded boxes. The difficulty of lidded boxes is in getting the lid and body to match perfectly, and that applies to the patterns carved on them as well. To achieve that, the artist must understand the idiosyncrasies of the clay when he throws on the wheel to control what cannot be seen by the eye. Recently, Peter enjoys variations in shape, including straight square, octagonal, and hexagonal shapes as well as twisting square shapes. His patterns are also varied, from freely designed straight line patterns to patterns that derive from kimono neck bands, bamboo shoots, and Ajiro woven patterns. But one thing you can say about all of Peter s pieces, be they boxes, vases, water containers, flower containers, sweet cake boxes, incense burners, or tea bowls, is that they actively incorporate blank space into the patterns that he designs on them. His forms are sharp with a sense of tension and are skillfully placed into a harmony with simple patterns that use blank space, creating pieces that are all the more appealing as a result. In the Way of Tea, it is said, "Completion creates deficiency" to express the beauty of something that is just short of perfection, such as the beauty of the moon the night before a full moon. Peter s ceramic art expresses not a perfect beauty that remains cold and distant from people, but a beauty that is one step short of perfection, that leaves enough room to make it more palatable to human sensitivities. This somehow makes his pieces appear refined and graceful in spite of their commanding presence and sense of tension. In that, I see Peter s deep understanding of the mind and heart of the Way of Tea. Koichi Mori is an Art Critic and Executive Director of the Japan Ceramic Society of Japan. Sculpted Blue-White Flower Vase with Wave Pattern, 2016 h. 9 x w. 7 1/2 x d. 9 1/2 in. (23 x 19.3 x 24 cm)

5 Sculpted Blue-White Incense Box in Shape of Origami Swallow, 2018 h. 1 5/8 x w. 3 1/8 x d. 2 1/4 in. (4 x 8.1 x 5.7 cm) Sculpted Blue-White Lidded Box with Flowing Pattern, 2018 h. 5 7/8 x w. 8 5/8 x d. 9 1/2 in. (14.8 x 22 x 24 cm)

6 Sculpted Blue-White Tea Caddy with Hishi Pattern, 2018 h. 3 3/8 x dia. 2 7/8 in. (8.6 x 7.3 cm) Sculpted Blue-White Tea Bowl in Flower Shape, 2018 h. 3 x dia. 5 3/8 in. (7.8 x 13.5 cm)

7 Sculpted Blue-White Cold Water Container with Overlapping Neck Band Pattern, 2015 with lacquer cover h. 6 1/4 x dia. 7 5/8 in. (16 x 19.5 cm) Sculpted Blue-White Incense Burner with Hishi Pattern, 2018 h. 5 3/8 x dia. 4 3/8 in. (13.8 x 11 cm)

8 Sculpted White "Pinwheel" Lidded Box, 2018 h. 10 1/2 x w. 9 3/4 in. (26.8 x 24.7 cm) Sculpted Celadon Cold Water Container with Wave Pattern, 2008 h. 6 5/8 x dia. 7 in. (17 x 17.9 cm)

9 Blue-White Box with Bamboo Pattern, 2015 h. 9 1/4 x dia. 13 in. (23.5 x 33 cm) Sculpted Blue-White Vase with Wave Pattern, 2017 h. 15 3/8 x dia. 11 1/8 in. (39 x 28.3 cm)

10 Peter Hamann (1956-) Peter Hamann was born on May 8, 1956 in Basset, Nebraska. He attended a workshop under Warren McKenzie and Jack Troy, in Bethany College in Bethany, Kansas in the summer of 1977 and in 1978, he graduated with a B.A. in Art from Graceland College, Lamoni, Iowa, where he has received the Certificate of Outstanding Achievement in Art. He took residency in Sasayama, Japan in 1982, where his passion for Japanese culture led him to study Yabunouchi-style tea ceremony under Master Chikuyuu Fukuda (Zuichikuan) from 1988 to present. Peter then received a Certificate of Graduation from the Tekisui Museum in Ashiya, Japan in 1988, which was a full-time, two year course in Ceramics. In addition to this course, he was a research student for three years. Later in 2010, Peter obtained his license to teach ceremonial tea techniques and in 2015, Peter gained Japanese citizenship, and took the Japanese name of Sougen Itani. His artist memberships include - National Member of Japan Kōgei Association, Member of Japan Ceramic Art Association, Member of Shinsho Crafts Association, and Member of Kyoto Craft Art Creators Union. SELECTED EXHIBITIONS: 2018 Asia Week, New York, US Solo Exhibition, Takashimaya, Osaka, Japan Solo Exhibition, Onishi Gallery, NY 2017 The 64th Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition, Japan 2015 Tea Ceremony Exhibition, Tanabe Museum, Matsue, Shimane, Japan Asia Week, New York, US SELECT PUBLIC COLLECTIONS: CARVING WHITE TRANSLUCENCE Peter Hamann September 6-22, 2018 Contact Nana Onishi nana@onishigallery.com Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Shiga, Japan; American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California, US; Edward Orton Jr. Ceramics Foundation, Ohio, US; Waikato Art Museum, Hamilton, New Zealand; Southland Art Gallery and Museum, Ivercargil, New Zealand; Hawk s Bay Art Gallery and Museum, Hawk s Bay, New Zealand; Brunnier Art Museum, Ames, Iowa, US

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