Tentacled Sea Flower

Katsumata Chieko creates ceramic forms inspired by sea life, plants, and minerals. She trained in France where she studied industrial design and ceramics in the 1970s. After returning to Japan, she honed her signature application of colored glaze painted on the ceramic’s surface through thin, gauzy cloth, leaving no trace of brushwork. She also layers these applications of glaze through multiple firings. In Tentacled Sea Flower, a coral-like form is glazed in black and then covered with white chamotte (also known as “grog” or “fire sand”), coarse particles of ground fired clay.