I would like to begin by pasting these links:
http://www.stevenandximena.com/
As many of you know, I recently returned from a trip to Japan where I was researching traditional wood-fired kilns. The title of the research proposal was, The Ecology of Craft, where I made the argument that the kilns are part of a 'complex geographic constellation,' and that one would be overlooking some of their greatest qualities if he were content to merely 'geek' out on their immediate utility. The kilns are amazing objects, and one can derive great satisfaction just from viewing them, being in their presence (they are easy to anthropomorphize), and experiencing their aesthetic qualities. But what makes them supremely beautiful is their role within communities as dynamic objects; they are a morphology, and are in constant dialogue with their environment - topography, culture, technics. So what is craft? the skill that it takes to build a kiln? this is part of it. the material? the product, a vase? the kiln itself? part of it too. Craft above all is the dialogue, the interdependency of multiple agents, experimentation, trial and error, and the balance that is ultimately achieved after disaster has run its course. Art is a statement; Craft is a conversation.
Kilns, then, have the ability to connect (and so we should not be so weary of our cliches). Of course, other things do this. But for Steven and Ximena, and their family and friends in Tokoname, Japan, it is a massive clay wall and a kiln. They have been doing it for over a decade (12 years). Ask them what they are making and they will tell you, a family, a community, a home, a place. What drives a person, a couple, family, to do something like this? Steven and Ximena manage answers, but it is my opinion that they will be contemplating 'answers' for the rest of their lives; maybe that's why they do it? The rest of the world might call it "crazy," because that's the easiest way to explain something that's hard to explain. Kudos to Steven, Ximena, their family and friends for doing something so crazy - we are inspired and blessed.
