It is perhaps tempting to throw one among Saori Matsushita’s paper airplanes throughout the room, however we promise you the touchdown could be lower than sleek.
From her Seattle studio, Matsushita transforms delicate sheets of porcelain into vases, mugs, and sculptures that seem as in the event that they have been folded from paper. Punctured with binder holes and the fringed fringe of a torn-out sheet, the purposeful objects bear the enduring blue traces of a faculty pocket book. Different works are equally misleading, like the material sack or collared-shirt vessels that seize the folds, bends, and bulges of cloth in ceramic.
To create these items, Matsushita makes use of nerikomi, a Japanese pottery method that includes layering coloured our bodies of clay collectively after which slicing them to disclose a patterned part. Stripes of blue and pink seem by stacking slabs slightly than the glazing course of, and the artist builds most works by hand (head to her YouTube to see extra).
When Matsushita started incorporating this labor-intensive technique into her observe in 2023, it helped develop what’s now grow to be her signature type. She shares:
Beforehand, I targeted on Neriage, a way the place coloured clays are mixed and wheel-thrown. Nevertheless, I transitioned to Nerikomi and started treating porcelain sheets like origami or leather-based to create extra distinctive, private expressions of my imaginative and prescient. I really feel this shift has allowed me to determine a method that actually displays my individuality as an artist.
Certainly one of Matsushita’s items will likely be featured in Saltstone Ceramics’ annual Mug Insanity event this March. Observe the most recent in her observe, together with bulletins about new works out there in her store, on Instagram.
