The most surprising feature of this Danny Kostyshin tenmoku-glazed tea bowl is its weight: the top half is quite delicately thrown but the bottom has thicker walls which give it a significant heft in the hand.

As well, Kostyshin strategically placed sculpted vertical ridges of slip and feldspar around the bowl. These “nodes” act as natural grips, which, along with the bottom weight, really make this bowl feel at home in two cupped palms and wrapped fingers. But the concentration of feldspar applied to the bottom third of the bowl also provides serious tactile interest: your fingers and palms are “awakened” by the texture.

Danny Kostyshin’s career is representative of British Columbia’s artist-potters who were inspired by the Mingei movement of Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada. In the early to mid 1970’s, he studied ceramics with Tam Irving and Sally Michener at what would become the Emily Carr College of Art & Design. Since the 2000’s Kostyshin has found that the creation and the contemplation of ceramics, especially tea wares, brings a sense of calm and patience to daily life.

New from the artist’s studio.