Carving curves that resonate
”Ceramic artist, Akira Wada”

Focus on carving lines

Young ceramic artist, Akira Wada, born in Chiba Prefecture in 1978. He is an aspiring ceramic artist who won various prizes at exhibitions such as Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition and the Great East Japan Traditional Crafts Exhibition. In the ”REVALUE NIPPON PROJECT” which is a project supporting traditional crafts organized by ”TAKE ACTION FOUNDATION” headed by Nakata, Wada showed work he had worked on in collaboration with other artists representing Japan.

The characteristics of Wada’s work are the pure white porcelain, and the firm lines carved with a sculpture blade. The clay mainly made of Amakusa pottery stone is shaped with a potter’s wheel, dried, carved with a knife to create the shape, then baked. This results in porcelain with sharp lines.

At Wada’s workshop, Nakata tried carving. Wada drew the carving line beforehand, so Nakata just needed to carve by carefully following the lines as a guide.

Ceramics as a familiar presence

”How long does it take to complete one of these?” Nakata asked. ”With this size (size of the palm of a hand.), it takes about 6 hours. I work about 12 hours a day. It is so fun.” Nakata looks at him like he can not believe him. ”(laughs) When you play soccer, wouldn’t you play for about 12 hours?” ”No, I don’t have the stamina. (laugh) It’s impressive that you do this for such a long time. What made you think doing this would be fun?””I like sculpting. You carve to make a shape. I find it fun to create a shape from nothing. You carve and carve and when you reach 70 to 80% completion, it’s elating.”

According to Wada, he sometimes uses a file for finishing, but tries to use only a knife to carve. This is because rather than becoming too clean, he would like for the warmth of his hands to remain. ”I think ceramics has a familiar presence. So if it is too mechanical, there’s nothing that resonates with people’s heart. The lines may not always be straight, but I want to create something that looks straight or rounded to the human eye.”

白磁の果実、曲線と向き合う

現在、和田さんは「秋の味覚シリーズ」と題した果物の形をした水差しの制作に取り組んでいる。 リンゴやラフランスなどの形をした水差しは、従来の直線ではなく、なめらかな曲線ばかり。 そうした作品を作ることにした背景をこう語った。 「震災後、日本中が落ち込んだと思うんですが、そのなかでバカなことを一生懸命やってみようと思って作ってみたんです。自分は本当は丸いラインが好きなんですが、今までは直線にこだわってたので、この機会にちょっとやってみようかな、と。 手がかかるし、難しいんですが、こういうポップなものをやることによって、見ていただく人にも楽しみが増えればいいな」

「自分の持っているエネルギーを爆発させることで、ようやく少し、人の心に訴えかける作品ができるんじゃないかと思う」という和田さんが、次にエネルギーを爆発させるものは何だろうか。 これからの作品も目が離せない。