Akiko Hirai makes largely functional ware using the Japanese tradition of allowing the clay itself to show the way in which it wants to be fired. She tries not to control her materials but to let them and the unpredictable environment of the kiln dictate much of the resulting shape and colour of her work. She respects most the forms created by spontaneity, saying that it reflects her unconscious mind more.
Organic and honest in their nature, Akiko’s vessels are created using various building techniques, including throwing, coiling, and casting, with multiple layers of slips and glazes which create complex textures and tones for each ceramic surface.
“You cannot judge a finished piece immediately. You have to sleep on it. There are so many pots that I have slept on.”
Throughout his long career Peter has always sought pathways to the development of new ideas. Often this is a slow process, but sometimes a particular event speeds things along.
Partaking of two residencies in China recently, where Peter worked in porcelain at high temperatures, led him to develop a new body of work, made alongside his existing practice to which Peter is still deeply committed.
This new exhibition represents the outcome of Peter’s working practice.
'This exhibition explores objects that express a quiet equilibrium: fragile, shifting forms that exist in a state of delicate imbalance. Their stillness is easily disturbed, as if the act of holding too tightly might cause something essential to disappear. The works reflect an interest in forms that resist perfection, remaining slightly unresolved, unsettled, and quietly alive.' Akiko Hirai
