Tim Rowan & Shumpei Yamaki Exhibition " Exchanging Fire " 1/17-1/19

Tim Rowan & ShumpeiYamaki Exhibition
- Exchanging Fire -  

January 17th Fri. – 19th Sun.
Opening Reception January17th Fri. 6pm-8pm

We are happy to announce that Sara Japanese Pottery will host the first in a series of exhibitions to celebrate our 25th anniversary. This exhibition will feature the works of Tim Rowan and Shumpei Yamaki.

This show is specially planned to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Sara Japanese Pottery.  We requested that Tim and Shumpei collaborate on a firing, but instead of firing together in a single kiln, to exchange their work and to use their respective kilns to fire; Tim in New York and Shumpei in Iowa.  The show is titled "Exchanging Fire".  It is because of their friendship that they are able to hand their own work to the other, let alone to entrust each other with the firing process.
Tim Rowan, an American artist who studied Bizen pottery in Japan, and ShumpeiYamaki, a Japanese artists who came to America and became potter, their exchange of friendship, art and culture is another meaning in the title that I hope people will experience at exhibition.

Tim Rowan was born in 1967 in New York City and grew up in Connecticut along the shore of the Long Island Sound.  His art education began during college, receiving a BFA from The State University of New York at New Paltz before journeying to Japan for two years to apprentice with ceramic artist Ryuichi Kakurezaki. Upon his return he worked briefly in studios in Massachusetts and New York before receiving his MFA from Pennsylvania State University.

He established his kiln and studio deep in the woods of the Hudson Valley in 2000 where he lives with his wife and son. His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions internationally most recently having solo shows at Cavin-Morris Gallery, in New York and Yufuku Gallery, in Tokyo, Japan.

Shumpei Yamaki was born and raised in Kamakura, Japan. He moved to Philadelphia in 1996 to study dance.  He went on to pursue a bachelor’s degree in archaeology at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse.  

In 1999, Shumpei was injured in an automobile accident and enrolled in a ceramics class as physical therapy for his arm.  He discovered his passion for ceramics, and in 2001 began an apprenticeship under Richard Bresnahan.  He learned traditional Japanese pottery techniques, wood-firing, and ways to rely on local resources and resource conservation. 

Shumpei went on to graduate studies at the University of Iowa, in 2002, taking full advantage of their strong wood-fire program.

In 2005, Shumpei moved to Brooklyn and participated in wood-firings in upstate New York with Tim Rowan and Roger Baumann.  He returned to Iowa in 2009, where he is currently the resident artist at Scattergood Friends School and Farm.  He is building a wood-fire kiln for the school and has been experimenting with local clay in his personal endeavors as a wood-fire potter.  

* We will be closed on December 31st and January 1st, 2014.
Wish you have a Happy New Year!