East Meets West Virginia

The day finally came for me to meet Yasuko Yamagishi. We met at the most beautiful roof top garden in the heart of my city. While Yasuko was in 3 inch heels and a beautifully tailored suit, she also carried bag containing garden snippers and the most trendy garden hat I've ever seen. She took time to cut flowers that most of us would overlook when contemplating a flower arrangement, like hosta leaves and clematis blooms.



In true American style, where more is more, I was prepared to visit several gardens and had imagined cutting lots of flowers. However, after cutting a rather meager looking assortment she was ready to head to my studio.



Once we arrived, she chose a few more flowers from my garden- a poppy and rhododendron blossoms then requested a large pitcher of water.


Her purpose in coming to America was to collaborate with ceramicists, bringing together her art with ours. She and several of her colleagues traveled throughout West Virginia for the past month. She visited Lewisburg, stayed at the Greenbrier and had a tour of Matewan-in short, she saw both the impressive as well as the less than prosperous-a true picture of West Virginia. The day we met was her last full day in America and she is now safely home in Yokohama.



I invited her to walk through the studio and choose whatever pots she liked for her arrangements. Again I was surprised to find she gravitated toward my bowls rather than what we think of as a vase. I stood back, studying her approach, which is thoughtful but not labored. She showed me pictures of her work in Japan, where it is not uncommon for her arrangement to fill a whole gallery while remaining sparse-very beautiful.



Her school has 500 students and I found myself wishing I could be one of them. She snipped the stems of the flowers twice while they were under water to encourage the flower to take up as much water as possible.



Next she delicately balanced the flowers...a calm sensibility, in no way busy or quick. A few years back, I was at a wood-firing conference where we threw some pots for the firing. In attendance were clay artists from around the world, including Japan. I had just become interested in what I call power throwing-throwing a pot as quickly as possible.



As I was working away, I looked up to find the Japanese potter staring at me in puzzled amazement. In an instant I was able to read his face and register his dismay at my approach. He didn't speak any English, but I could tell his question was,"Crazy white woman, what are you doing?" It extinguished my interest in power throwing, and even now, I still seek to slow down.




My visit with Yasuko gave me reason to think about graceful approaches to work, flowers and arrangement. I am very glad to have had the chance to meet her. When it was time for her to leave, there was the formal handshake which ended in a hug. I feel like a made a new friend, and who knows, perhaps my future holds a trip to Japan...