For some, their passion is predestined. For others, it is unearthed, silently lurking in their past and slowly guiding their life choices. Ceramics artist Tomoo Kitamura tumbled into his life's work through a cross-continental journey and a second look at his ancestry. Born one hour from Mashiko, Japan, Kitamura's dawning into an artist should have been a natural progression. His hometown is the former residence and studio of famed ceramics artist Shoji Hamada. The rural economy was based on Hamada's name, and visitors populated the subsequent pottery shops and studios. Kitamura's mother was a self-taught painter. His father was a carpenter and avid collector of Japanese pottery. Yet despite this familiarity with the ceramics world, Kitamura never considered a life behind a wheel or holding a paintbrush to canvas. It took a dramatic move to the United States, a chance meeting and a marriage to an American art student for Kitamura to foster an interest in life as an artist.
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