Kitamura Junko

Kitamura’s ceramic works are made of stoneware and white slip, often decorated with intricate, dizzying patterns. The wheel-thrown pieces are sometimes adorned with white dots, which create a shifting pattern against the background, heighted by their subtle texture.[2] Although the tiny decorations appears obsessive, Kitamura’s work is inspired by the ancient 15th century Korean tradition of buncheong ware of slip-inlay.[3] Her designs are punched into the surface by hand with bamboo, then inlaid with a white slip.[4] Punch’ong, or otherwise known as buncheong ware could be either inlaid or stamped to create well defined patterns, or incised for a more freehand, inventive style. The buncheong tradition was interrupted by the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592, and 1598, but was resumed in the seventeenth century by Korean and Japanese potters. Kitamura’s work also appears to reference or evoke pottery designs from the Jōmon Period (10,500-300 BC).[5]

Post-World War II, Japanese women began to enter the world of ceramics. While a number of female Japanese ceramic artists are prominent today, women were traditionally excluded from the apprentice system of ceramic production, and not accepted as apprentices. The post-war university system allowed for an alternative teaching route, which allowed women to learn through a school rather than the apprenticeship system.[6]