Kathryne Cyman

Artist's Statement:

After I received my BFA in Ceramics and was working in stoneware clay for ten years, I took a course in porcelain pottery at the University of New Mexico. I had been hearing about this class where students could study a traditional method of porcelain that came from Arita, Japan. It used 'tools', there were 'steps', and the potters wheel spun 'clockwise' - it was unlike anything I had ever done before...

Since 1988, I have been studying this way of creating porcelain pottery that is used in Arita. I enjoy the challenges of working with this glass-like clay and the 'Arita Method'.

How porcelain changes in the glaze firing, from the way it moves to its translucence, is like magic; and whenever I open the kiln and there is a piece as I had imagined, I am still in amazement.

I received my MA in 1996, and have been teaching the Arita Method at UNM since 2001 with the support of Manji Inoue of Arita ~ National Living Treasure of Japan.