Rooted in Clay
Museum Art Project
Rooted in Clay
INAX Museum, Tokoname, Japan - 2023
Rooted in Clay, INAX Museum, Tokoname, Japan – 2023
In spring 2023, Athena and Bill visited Japan for the first time as visiting artists for “Rooted in Clay,” a collaborative earthen art exhibition held at the INAX Museum in the pottery town of Tokoname, Aichi. The museum, dedicated to the many-faceted world of clay and ceramics, hosted an exhibit that would highlight the expression of clay through various cultures. Three sculptural forms were worked on by each artist representing their culture; Athena Swentzell Steen, a Native American from Santa Clara pueblo, Bill Steen, from Mexico decent, and Syuhei Hasado, from Japan. The exhibited works were completed after eight days of public work.
Syuhei Hasado (https://www.syuhei.jp) had visited the Steens in 2004, 2007 and 2015. Eight years before, after a visit by Akira Kusumi, an honored clay plaster craftsman from Japan, Bill and Athena were exposed to the unbelievable plastering skills, depth of clay knowledge and large array of tools being used throughout history in Japanese plaster traditions. The doors to artistically refined possibilities were blown wide open. Anxious to learn more, Bill engaged Kimie Tada, editor of CONFORT Japanese plaster magazine and an enthusiastic promoter of all forms of earthen construction and clay plasters, to find us a craftsman who could teach us and others more about the Japanese way of plastering. Eventually, it was Syuhei, a master plasterer and artist, accompanied by Kimie, who found their way down to Canelo, thus further connecting us to Japan.
It was a lingering dream of Kimie’s to get Athena and Bill over to Japan. Further inspired by a slideshow-video Athena had put together about her clay-building life, called “Rooted in Clay,” borrowing the name, Kimie proceeded to develop the connections and vision needed to create the exhibition.
Mountain Bird – Athena Steen
The “dark womb of the earth” that invites people in
In the center of the Native American and Pueblo communities, there is a ceremonial meeting place called a “kiva”. It is circular in shape and surrounded by stepped rooms. When accessing it, (one) descends from the top into the dark womb of the earth and reappears on the way up. On entering and exiting, one is purified with smoke and blessed with the feathers of a bird that “possesses the intelligence to see beyond”.
Mountain Bird was inspired by this kiva. On the outer rim, Athena plastered bird feathers using a technique she calls “carving,” in which white clay is applied over and over again on top of black clay to make it thicker, and then carved out as it dries. This “mountain bird” has blue “glowing mud balls” for eyes, it seems to naturally invite people in and take them to a different world.
Mountain Bird. The lower half represents the wings of a bird, and the upper part represents a mountain. The logs sticking out of the upper part of the structure were made to resemble beams in an adobe structure. The upper half is plastered with Hida red clay.
Tierra Nido – Bill Steen
inspired by prehistoric granaries in Mexico
Syuhei Hasado – Bamboo Sky
Showcasing a delicate Japanese-style finish
This work was intended to show the characteristics of Japanese plastering. The conical base, which resembles a bamboo komai, was created from Athena’s image sketch, and Hasado developed it into a Japanese umbrella. The finishing touches were done by Hasado and his trusted plasterer, Masaki Kawaguchi, working in tandem. Japanese plastering is characterized by smooth surfaces and straight lines. The zigzag tops, eight bones, horizontal bottom edges, and other minute details were formed by timing the order of application, applying molds and using a small trowel each time. The top coat on the flat surface was finished delicately and elegantly using three colors of clay.
Left: Using clay as a material, advanced techniques are required to make the corners stand up sharply.
Middle left: Hasado on the right and Kawaguchi on the left
Children’s Earth-Paint River-Wall – Athena Steen
Cultural patterns designed through years of repetition hold so many of our unspoken life-meanings and values, from which emerges all we are and all we do. Although worn deep from constant use, these age-old patterns are also too often no-longer seen and so dishonored or forgotten. New patterns authentically reflecting our “now” are certainly perpetually needed. How can they be embraced and encouraged while simultaneously enhancing and enlivening the old or even integrating other cultures?
The stepped-mountain design common in Pueblo pottery, weavings, and building design depicts the sacred mountains surrounding Pueblo communities. The diamond represents Earth- its four points corresponding to the four directions–north, south, each and west. Its center being where all directions converge. The background pattern combines the elements of physicalness and space to embody the total interconnectedness of people and nature. A double-stranded river runs over and across the background. One strand of triangles, a symbol of rain and clouds, flows with the essential power and energy of life-giving water. The other strand, protected beneath, is a defined yet unknown stream of raw, creative spirit.
