Much of what I have come to admire about pottery comes from the traditions of Japanese craft. Among my favorite artists are Kitaoji Rosanjin and Fujiwara Kei. But one way to grow as an artist, as person who appreciates art, as a critic of art, is to challenge your own region of comfort. I intend to do so with an examination of the work of Marguerite Wildenhain and her students, for Wildenhain was a noted teacher as well as a ceramic artist in her own right.
The choice of Wildenhain is reasoned, in that she shares some of the goals of the Mingei Movement but has serious reservations about the methods of reaching those goals that are quite in opposition to Bernard Leach and Yanagi Soetsu, the intellectual leaders of that movement.
This will surely expand over time into more than can be accomodated in the freeform structure of a blog. But, for now, this will be the anchor as I go exploring the issues raised by examining their differences.