Online masterclass by Takuro Shibata

Takuro Shibata is a ceramic artist originally from Japan, who currently hails from Seagrove,
North Carolina, which is one of the biggest pottery communities in the US. He grew up in Osaka, Japan and studied engineering and chemistry at Doshisha University in Kyoto. Since 2005, he has served as Director of STARworks Ceramics (in Star, NC), where he leads the clay manufacturing team that refines wild clays from North Carolina. They now manufacture and market very unique clays that have become extremely popular amongst potters, schools and art organizations up and down the East Coast. He also set up STARworks Clay Studio and runs their artist-in-residence program.
Takuro and his wife, Hitomi set up their own pottery studio and built wood kilns at their North Carolina home. Takuro actively joins exhibitions and events, and is a deeply experienced presenter of lectures, demonstrations and workshops on clay manufacture and his own artistic work. He has developed a national reputation both as a ceramic artist and as a clay specialist. His work and clay stories are featured regularly in media, publications and conferences nationally and internationally. He is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics. His presentation for Echoes in Clay will focus both on the manufacture of ceramic clay bodies using wild clays of North Carolina, and on the artistic process and methods he uses in creating his own ceramics.

The online master class will be held in the framework of the project “ECHOES IN CLAY:
Georgian and US Ceramic Artists' Dialogue and Cultural Exchange” implemented by the
Georgian Heritage Crafts Association (GHCA) and Glen Echo Pottery (GEP), supported by
U.S. EMBASSY TBILISI/ Cultural and Educational Small Grants Program.
The goal of this project is to raise bi-lateral awareness of professional ceramics artistry
and techniques, including an examination of ceramics history in each country, and to lay
the foundation for possible future in-person exchanges promoting collaborative artistic,
technical and scholarly initiatives. This cultural and educational program will entail an
exchange of online masterclasses, followed by a challenge project and resulting virtual
exhibition of ceramic works inspired by the ceramic traditions of both countries.

The event will be accompanied with Georgian translation and will be held on Zoom
platform. To attend the meeting please register on the following link: shorturl.at/yGRW0