Spreading the charms of Japan to the world from Fukui

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Aaron Lee Browne, ceramic art instructor at KANAZ FOREST of CREATION/ceramic artist

2018.03.27

Craft

We visited KANAZ FOREST of CREATION in Awara City, Fukui Prefecture. We interviewed Aaron Lee Browne, who is an American ceramic artist and a ceramic art instructor at KANAZ FOREST of CREATION. He grew up in North Carolina, which is surrounded by beautiful nature. He studied in Osaka, Japan as an exchange student when he was in high school. That’s when he met ceramic art.

 

After studying in Osaka, he continued studying and gained more experiences for making ceramic art in several schools and laboratories in Japan, including at Tokyo University of the Arts, and in laboratories in Kyushu, which is known for ceramic art. After living in big cities, he preferred to live in a quieter suburb where he can relax and feel the nature closely to make ceramics.
He moved to Awara City, Fukui in 2011. At KANAZ FOREST of CREATION, he teaches how to make ceramics and also makes his own works as well.

 

Aaron Lee Browne
Aaron Lee Browne at KANAZ FOREST of CREATION/The art craft workshop
He is a friendly guy with fluent Japanese; he’s liked by everyone.

 

making a pot on the potter's wheel
He showed us how to make a pot.

 

celadon rhombic dodecahedron
One of his masterpieces is celadon rhombic dodecahedron.
It is very large, standing at approximately 1 meter tall.

 

Aaron observed strict geometric rules when making this piece, which is obvious by its design.
Since Aaron’s research has focused on the golden and silver ratio theories of geometry, he was excited to talk about them. Topics included finding ratios present in the natural world like the Fibonacci sequence, the different approaches to the gold and silver ratios in western and eastern culture, how the ratios can be found in the design of many shrines, and so on.

 

The arts and crafts workshop in KANAZ FOREST of CREATION
The arts and crafts workshop in KANAZ FOREST of CREATION is surrounded by beautiful nature.

 

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