#75 Block Print Vessel S26 Pure sea salt smoked over

Pure sea salt smoked over a bonfire of hickory

A pair of quiet softly curving forms like the heads of mannequins

beloved for rich color variance

Inspired by the familiar shapes of balloons these organic forms perch over an impossibly narrow foot

#75 Block Print Vessel S26 Pure sea salt smoked overAkio Nukagas work explores the possibilities of how he leaves a trace of himself in clay. In this piece, he stamps patterns into the soft, wet clay before it is fireda nod to Japanese techniques called inamun and mishimade. The form of the vesselinspired by ancient earthenwareappears textured and soft after stamping. After the first firing and before the second, he finishes the vessel by applying different colored slips (liquid clay)a technique that