Editor's Note: This resource can be used in conjunction with the lesson Contemporary Clay: Japanese Ceramics for the New Century.

Shirō Tsujimura is a self-taught artist. He attributes his inspiration to pursue the ceramic work that he does to a visit to the Japan Folk Craft Museum in Tokyo as a teenager, where he viewed a traditional Korean tea bowl (Ido chawan). From then on, Tsujimura became intensely interested in the tea ceremony and the larger aesthetic, religious and philosophical traditions intrinsic to the ritual. The tea ceremony clearly informs his artistic decisions, both in terms of some forms, materials and techniques, as well as a more pervasive idea concerning an intense appreciation of natural forms. Tsujimura uses common materials and even processes, but his employment of the unpredictability of the medium, and his emphasis on retaining the organic nature of the clay and glazes themselves makes his art unique. He pays close attention to each step of his practice, and relishes the “accidents” of nature that are likely to occur in the process of crafting ceramic works.