Northcoast Artists Gallery is pleased to present their October show from member artist Satoko Barash. “Vessels for Love and Comfort”.

“The most important and meaningful things in my life are the relationships I am developing with my family and close friends. The notion that one cannot live alone intrigues me.  No matter how independent I’d be, financially and emotionally, I’d always be living within a network of people and community support. I am native Japanese, and I met my husband in New Zealand. He persuaded me to continue my art in the U.S. where we now share a home in Mendocino County, California. I have a studio and a hard-brick soda kiln at home, and receive help and inspiration from friends, my loving husband, and our beautiful daughter.

Like for many people in different parts of the world, the past 18 months have been an emotional ride for me, though I have been spared in so many ways.  My parents live in Japan, and my father’s diagnosis with pancreatic cancer coincided with a Covid lock-down in March 2020. We had a wonderful visit in February that year, and he asked me to make him an urn, even though he was in good health at the time, and we were blissfully unaware of what his future held.

2020 meant readjusting my expectations around studio practice. I had already stopped accepting commissions before the pandemic started. I ran out of porcelain in April, but could not travel to purchase more. I started looking around in the corners of my studio for dry bags of clay.  As I remembered how much I used to enjoy working with the dark brown stoneware clay body, the repetitive movements and just having something to do with my hands and time helped me process the tangle of negative feelings such as pain, fear, and guilt.

I’m drawn to functional work because of its intimacy with the user. The idea that my work is enriching somebody’s everyday rituals like eating, drinking, serving and entertaining motivates me. The technical challenges that come with creating utilitarian pieces enrich my practice as a potter. Similarly to many Japanese men, my father was generally spare on compliments or displays of affection, but I am honored that he felt that an urn made by me would be good enough for his eternal resting place.

I invite you to pick up one of my pieces, and hold it in your hands.