The first day of the course began with a short video of Matsuzaki Ken at his workshop in Mashiko, where he had been the principal student of Tatzuo Shimaoka, a Living National Treasure of Japan. Seeing' him at work in his home environment gave a good idea of what to expect during the two weeks. Abilities in the group ranged from near beginners to full-time professional potters. As the youngest. I was constantly reminded of this when told that much of the equipment we were using was nearly twice my age. Although an eclectic mix, we all shared the same aspiration - to learn and develop our skills and knowledge and gain an understanding of the Japanese view of ceramics. A large proportion of Ken's work is handbuilt using his own coiling and pinching technique, which, with the help of Yo Thorn as translator, he demonstrated. It took us a while to get to grips with this way of working but after a couple of days we were producing pieces relatively quickly. We started off making the same faceted bottle forms as Ken but quickly developed our own work. At first I was quite nervous and not sure what to expect but by the end of the day I had settled in and had started to make some good friends.
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