Shoko Teruyama- lyrical decorative

Scraffitto is one of my favourite techniques. This is one of the very first, most simple techniques people learn when they are first starting ceramics but there are never-ending variations on the technique of scraffitto.

Shoko Teruyama, Japanese born American ceramicist is inspired by the temples and shrines "decorated with texture and pattern contrasted by areas of calm and stillness" of her native country.
These beautiful works use overwhelming pattern in a poetic way leading the viewer around the pot. Decoration functions as an end in itself as details are revealed on closer viewing and also as an integral part of the form. Teruyama's use of pattern and colour reveals and amplifies the shape of the vessel. You often see decorated ware taken over by strident decoration but Teruyama's work avoids this by an insistence on the form and function within the decorative field. I like this work very much."Birds appear throughout my work to create focal points. Some birds swim in the motion of slip and fly around the vine patterns. Others are walking or sitting in thought. To me, the birds represent my sense of freedom."
From Shoko Teruyama's website