I recently went to the Nelson-Atkins to do minor research for an Art History class. On my way to the African Art section, I passed through the beautiful new exhibition, 3 visions in glass; featuring 3 glass artists working in Venice. My favorite of the 3 was Yoichi Ohira. The colorless vessels speak to space that exists between exterior and interior form- or tension, as the label describes it. Lining several of these pieces together creates another level of dialogue.
"The Bamana people believe that raw clay possesses extraordinary, potentially harmful amounts of nyama, the vital , spiritual energy animating all things."
I found that statement on a label for a pottery piece in the African collection.
I connect with that.
When I work in my studio, the clay almost comes alive with the minimal plan I bring to it. Whatever is created with clay (not just from me but in my studio mates and other artists in all mediums) a personality, an atmosphere, an emotion, an idea that was not there before the artist touched it. I think the Bamana people are right, especially for Yoichi Ohira's work. He breathes life.
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