Oct. 19, Sunday, “Yui’s Pottery Project 2014” Lunch Party
We asked the people who took part in the workshop, those who had sent their vessels as an invitation, and last year’s Yui Team members to come together for a lunch party. The party was held to promote communication and interaction through the lunch using the bowls and sakura motif cups made during this year’s project.
We cooked with the participants who had volunteered to join us. We made kenchinjiru, fried hikina, which is a local dish of Fukushima prefecture, and added to these planned dishes, the participants brought in taro potatoes, sweet potatoes, komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach) and many other vegetables and other homemade dishes. The atmosphere was very friendly with the participants, who were full of energy, helping and teaching us how to make the dishes as we prepared for the lunch party. During the lunch, people reflected on the dishes they had created, and spoke about the words the recipients of the dishes had said to them, about the reaction when they saw the dishes, about the earthquake, about the current refugees situation 3 and 1/2 years after the nuclear power plant accident, about things on their minds now, and even about their hobbies and interests, touching on a wide range of subjects.
Finally, while we were delighted to hear that some people said that they would definitely like to come back again next year, we also pulled ourselves together to prepare for the next project. We would like to continue with the project in which the participants can enjoy making pottery and also bring out the best of our originality as the “Yui’s Pottery”. We would like to hold meetings to discuss what we had learned in the interaction this time and apply our experience to improve future initiatives. (Noguchi, 3rd Year at School of Art & Design)

At the 2nd Yui’s Pottery Project, glazing and loading of the kiln for the glost-firing were carried out with the participants. Once again, the participants were very enthusiastic about creating their own dishes. First, the participants saw their own creation after a week. They were surprised by the change between before and after the bisque firing. They were also pleased with the sakura motif that had beautifully appeared on the surface of the cups. This time, we used a glaze called limestone glaze-3, which turns transparent when fired at a high temperature (1250℃). Since the glaze must be applied to the bisque fired ware in one go, some of the participants were having trouble, but they also seemed to be enjoying the intense, focal moment of putting the glaze on their work. When the vessels were glazed, they were rather hard to distinguish which one belonged to whom, but next week, after the gloss firing, many a one-and-only, unique pieces of work will be completed. The participants loaded the kiln, looking forward to next week’s results. Next week, on Sept. 28, there will be an occasion to show off the finished works, and we will take time for a pack-and-send task to invite everyone’s special person to whom the created vessels will be presented. We hope to make next week’s workshop another memorable one full of fun. (Nagano, 3rd Year at School of Art & Design)