Junko Kitamura

Repeatedly stamping a seal is like imprinting my own sense of self.
Kitamura presses a seal into the soft clay using a technique known as ‘mishimade’ . The indented impressions of the seal from a pattern on the clay surface. According to Kitamura, it is the precise moment when the seal is impressed and one can sense the softness of the slightly indented clay that she likes most about the medium. Although Kitamura dose use a compass or other tool to ensure regularity, she relies primarily on her own intense concentration, working by eye to build up the design by filling the surface with stamped imprints. The tiny stamped motifs accumulate to from clusters and as they repeat― perhaps already hinting at a specific design― they eventually lose their regularity and dissolve into a kind of froth, an organic flux from which the overall pattern emerges.
As seen in Kitamura’s early plan to study fabric dyeing, her prime interest lies in 2 ― dimensional work. Because of this her plastic forms are simple and her work is noted for its delicate black and white patterning. In her ‘Double Wall’  series the shapes of the pieces and the patterns on their inner and outer surfaces reverberate beautifully in the surrounding space.

72: Vessel  
73: Vessel 
74: Vessel