Currently in his 91st year, Glenn Lewis made this vase during his 2014 residency in Shigaraki, Japan. The light stoneware clay body sparkles with constellations of feldspar that rose to the surface during the 8-day wood firing. The body is squared slightly, giving two defined planes to allow the flame to dance across. Orange and brown patterns are artefacts of the firing’s unique atmosphere. 

The shape for this vase - low and squared body, tall and wide flaring neck, and small lugs - might take inspiration from the region’s Shigaraki and Iga wares. But there is also something distinctly human about the form: it has a head, torso, arms, hips, and feet. While visiting his studio Lewis also shared images of Jomon wares - Japan’s earliest ceramic tradition that often featured human and animal shapes. And like Jomon ware’s unglazed earthenware, Lewis’ raw clay emphasizes his forms. These are sculptures as much vases. 

During his apprenticeship at Bernard Leach’s St Ives pottery, Lewis learned more about actual pot-making perhaps from Janet Leach. She herself had spent time apprenticing in Japan and her approach to throwing always let the clay speak. When I visited a 2023 show of work by Janet Leach and Glenn Lewis I was struck how each made forms that embraced the qualities of the clay they worked with. There was no push or pull. Just a symbiotic play between potter and clay.