A Letter from Joy Brown

Ceramic people making sculptor, Joy Brown, wrote us about her visit to Japan and China last year.
On her way to China she was included in an exhibition with her pottery teacher, Shigeyoshi Morioka, and ten of his apprentices. The show was at Moon Gallery, up in the mountains near Nara.
It is fun to look her pictures and her large sculptures.
We'd like to share this letter, we hope you enjoy it.

 In Japan
It was a special time in Japan with my teacher Shige, his wife and other apprentices. We are like family. Not only did we learn how to make pots and build and fire kilns but we learned a way of life. I was his first apprentice 40 years ago! Shige is like a brother to me. For several days I stayed in his home in Amano, a village in Wakayama mountains.

Moon Gallery is in a beautiful old renovated farmhouse up in the mountains near Nara. We walked up into the hills behind the gallery to pick flowers and greens for the opening of our show. We all stayed in a nearby farmhouse and cooked and ate together, wonderful dinners, lots of sake and late nights talking.

That's Shige waiting for his coffee.. always inspiring and fun to be with him, always my teacher. 

In China
After Japan, I went on to Shanghai for a couple weeks to finish a big form in plaster and finish some figures in bronze to prepare for the show at Shanghai Art Fair. It's always lots of fun (and hard work) to be working there. After 5 years of going to this workshop, several times a year for several weeks at a time, I have come to know the small team pretty well and have become very fond of many of them.

Truck loaded, heading to the show in Shanghai
the guys, my friends, working over time on my behalf, installing for stability

Introducing Joy Brown Ceramic Sculpture

Introducing Joy Brown Ceramic Sculpture

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On a pleasant day in September, we went to the sculptor/ceramicist Joy Brown's studio. It is located in South Kent, Connecticut.

It takes 2 hours to get there from New York City, among the lush green mountains, her studio sits atop a hill.

 On the way to the studio, everyone seemed very happy.  

The studio itself was quiet, yet cheerful.

  

Joy welcomed us and served us tea on an outdoor table.

We enjoyed beautiful weather, and over a simple pie we listened to Joy's story.

From Joy's story we realized that her sculptures are warm and soft, just as she is.

 

At first, we saw one of the sculptures standing as if to welcome us.

Upon entering her property, there was a sculpture garden.

Sculptures with round heads like those of Haniwa dolls were scattered throughout the garden.

Inside of a bush I discovered a sculpture of someone stretching his hands in the air, while everyone else was dancing in a circle.

In the backyard people are talking, someone is cradling a child in her arms, someone has a dove on their shoulder.

 

Joy Brown

ONE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

Hudson Beach Glass, Philadelphia, PA, 2010
Art Within Gallery, Kent, CT, 2009, 2010
Marie Trichet Gallery, Litchfield, CT, 2008
Hudson Beach Glass, Beacon NY, 2008
Coady Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM, 2007
Bachelier-Cardonsky Gallery, Kent, CT, 1989-2006
Elena Zang Gallery, Shady (Woodstock), NY, 2005
Signature Gallery, Atlanta, GA, 2005
Munson Gallery, Chatham, MA, 2005
Hiro Gallery, Wakayama, Japan, 2002
Kumagai Museum, Tokyo, 1994
Au Gallery, Osaka, 1994
Paris-New York-Bangkok Gallery, Thailand, 1994
Galery Gianna Sistu, Paris, 1993
Paris-New York-Kent Gallery, Kent, CT, 1988
Departure Gallery, New York, NY, 1983-1991
Mingei Gallery, New York, NY, 1981

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Morrison Gallery, Kent CT June 2011
Shanghai International Sculpture Project, (5 larger than life size bronze figures in outdoor park.) China 2010
L’Amour de feu, International exhibition, La Borne Ceramic Center, France, 2010
Moon Gallery, Nara, Japan 2010
Boscobel Sculpture Garden, Cold Springs, NY 2009
Heinz Center, Philadephia, PA, Women in Wood, 2008
Fuller Museum, Brockton MA, Fire and Ash, 2007
Dubuque Museum of Art, Iowa, Legacy and Innovation in Contemporary Clay, 2006
Center for Craft, Creativity and Design, NC, Architectural Echoes in Clay, 2006
Bachelier-Cardonsky Gallery, Kent, Ct, 1987 - 2007
Elena Zang Gallery, Shady (Woodstock), NY, 1997-2004
Signature Shop and Gallery, Atlanta, GA, 2003-2004
Cheryl Hazan Gallery, NY, NY, 2003-2007
Munson Gallery, Chatham, MA, 2004
Weber Fine Art, Greenwich Ct, Friends and their Visions, 2006
AKAR, Ohio City, Ohio, 2006
Ferrin Gallery, Lenox, MA, 2005
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Iowa, International Juried Wood Five, 2004
Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus, OH, Clay, Wood, Fire, Salt, 2001
Worcester Center for Crafts, MA, Invoking the Source: The Ancient Feminine, 2001
University of Iowa Museum of Arts, International Wood-fire Exhibition, 1999
Odyssey Gallery, Asheville, NC, Wood, Salt, Soda: Atmospheric Fired Ceramic, 1999
Brookfield Craft Center, CT, Woodfire in America, 1996
Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN, Clay, Wood, and Fire, 1996
Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, CT, Containers, 1992
Wheeler-Seidel Gallery, New York, NY, 1990-1992
University of Iowa Museum of Arts, American Woodfire, 1991

AWARDS AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY

Presenter: L’Amour De Feu, (conference), La Borne, France 2010
Travel to Xuzhou, China, 2010. (grandparent’s home for 40 years and father’s birth place)
Currents, wall mural installation, University of NC, Asheville, 2006
Song of Life, wall mural commission, Yodogawa Christian Hospital, Osaka, Japan ,2006
Presenter, "Clay - The Art of Earth and Fire" Hotchkiss Symposium, Lakeville, CT, 2006
Ruth Steinkraus-Cohen Memorial Outstanding Women of Connecticut Award, 2003
One Earth, One Family wall mural commission, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT, 2002
Presenter, 1st & 2nd International Wood-fire Conference, Iowa University, 1991, 1999
Founded Still Mountain Center to foster East-West artistic exchange, 1998
Featured in The New York Times; The Internatioinal Herald Tribune; House and Garden;
Ceramics Monthly; Studio Potter; Woodfired Stoneware and Porcelain (Jack Troy);
Whimsy in the Garden (Martin & Brown)
Ruth Chenven Foundation grant for kiln construction, 1986
Wakayama Museum award in ceramic sculpture, 1981

EDUCATION

Raised and schooled in Japan, 1951-1968
B.A. in Fine Arts, Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL, 1972
Ceramic apprenticeships in Japan, 1975-1978
Researched kilns and potteries in Korea and Japan, including Okinawa, 1978