Peter Callas will be part of a group exhibition of tea bowls at Asian Influences in Pittsburgh that runs concurrently with the 2008 NCECA Conference. Also, in the show are Takao Okazaki, Kristin Muller, Joe Campbell, and Shane Sellers. Peter has fired often with Takao and Kristin and Kristin now owns the kiln that was built by Okazaki when he lived in Pennsylvania.

The exhibition runs from March 1 through March 21, 2008. There is a reception with the artists on Thursday, March 20 from 6-8 pm. Gallery hours are Wednesday to Saturday, 11 am to 6 pm.

The curator’s notes on the exhibition:

Tea Bowls, teabowls

The Tea Bowl is perhaps one of the best known, and at the same time, the most esoteric of all ceramic art objects. This in part seems due to the very aesthetic that has given the Tea Bowl birth. The whole of Japanese art appears to possess a great tolerance for qualities that may seem paradoxical or contradictory, and no where does this become more evident than in the aesthetics surrounding Tea.

The traditional Japanese Tea Bowl is in one sense a highly “regulated” object, with a strict vocabulary. Dependent upon the “taste” of the owner, and the season during which it will be used, it must be of a prescribed size to fit the hands, and of a specific shape to allow for its intended functions. There are concepts of how the lip or rim must be sculpted to represent the landscape, and how deep, broad, and distinct the bottom should be for the recessed tea pool. What section of the bowl represents the front, or in Tea terms the “face?” Is the corresponding low spot used for drinking the tea directly across the bowl from this sweet spot? These “rules” vary in subtle ways, but I believe a list of necessary attributes for a Tea Bowl could be made that would satisfy most people of Tea. In truth, these rules are often interpreted by ones personal taste and desired flavor.

On the other side of the coin is the heart and soul of Tea – the “wabi, sabi” aesthetic and the influence of Zen Buddhism. Here we find few, if any rules, and an aesthetic based on “thusness,” with true beauty often found in the rough and irregular – yet natural. Soetsu Yanagi in his classic The Unknown Craftsman best describes this “shibui” concept as follows: “It is not a beauty displayed before the viewer by its creator - creation here means, rather, making a piece that will lead the viewer to draw beauty out of it for himself.”

So what of the Tea Bowl, if anything, is important to us as artists and viewers in the 21^st Century, and what relevance does such an ancient, dated, and quiet object have on the contemporary ceramics scene? The answer would seem to lie once again in the concept of “shibui”. You the viewer must draw out from these pieces what you will, and find their beauty, and ultimately their relevance, for yourself.

The exhibition of bowls presented here represents five “makers” from very different backgrounds, but with a common thread of friendship that ties us together. A brief comment from each artist about his or her bowls will best lend clarity to our purpose.

Curator, Joe Campbell, 2008