Jill Fanshawe Kato studied painting at Chelsea College of Art, and trained as a potter in Japan, where she frequently returns, not only for biennial exhibitions at venues such as Keio Department Store in Tokyo and Ryubo Department Store in Naha on Okinawa Island, but also because she wants to renew contact with Japanese potters, and with the practices and concepts of a culture that has a love of domestic pots seemingly woven into the very fabric of its attitude toward living and eating.Her collectors appreciate the changes they find in the biennial displays in Tokyo, for one of the strongest tenets of this potter''s faith is the determination not to keep repeating what sells well, this being tantamount to embracing "a blindness which controls creative forces".
Jill Fanshawe Kato has realised that it is the three dimensionality of ceramics which she finds even more exciting than she does painting; for in addition to bowls, jugs, platters, she creates ceramic sculptures ranging from large, commissioned wall-pieces to smaller sized works. Thus, form is a constant preoccupation and her pots are not merely a clay canvas waiting to accept the painters skill. Although there are still times when the painterly intuition asserts itself and colour becomes the initial inspirational force, it is truer to say that form precedes colour and decoration in the conceptual heirarchy of her imagination.
Birds and fish are important impetuses to Jill''s creativity, she has a passion for plant and animal life and a dedicated commitment to conservation issues."I tend to be influenced by what''s happening in my personal life at any one time," she says "As a result of extensive travels in Asia and also my sporting interests - in skiing and snorkeling, for example - I''ve included rainforests, mountain landscapes and tropical marine life. Now you could say my work has become more English."
By this she means that of late she has been more home-based, spending much of her free time on the allotment she works with her husband, photojournalist and publisher Setsuo Kato. Here, while planting, weeding and harvesting vegetables, soft fruit and herbs, she can bird and nature watch to her heart''s content; "There''s nothing more exciting than seeing a kestrel hovering overhead, watching it swoop down to grab some unsuspecting source of food.
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Broadway Modern Tel: 01386 858436 |
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Artist : Jill Fanshawe Kato
Title : Oval dolphin dish
Size : 1.50" x 9.00"
Medium : Ceramic
Price : £130.00
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