Eiko Maeda

“It was my innate love of art that brought me to the Joshibi University of Art and Design in Tokyo where I specialized in Japanese lacquer (Urushi). During that time I began to appreciate the deep connection among art, culture and Japanese history, while developing a particular interest in the deeply rooted tradition of Japanese ceramics. It was years later, after moving to Montreal, that I chose to fully pursue this passion by taking up the study of ceramics at the Visual Arts Centre, where I learned to translate my existing skills into a new medium.

Today, I work from my home studio in St. Catharines Ontario. I devote my life to my work, through which I strive to express the elegance, feminine beauty, delicacy and modesty of Japanese culture. 

I have been exploring a new style of ceramics technique, called nerikomi. I had the opportunity to attend a nerikomi ceramics workshop taught by Eiji Murofushi, one of the pioneers in the field of nerikomi ceramics in 2013 in Fuji, Japan. I was immediately attracted and started to practice nerikomi in Canada where the technique is hardly known. Funded by the Ontario Art Council, I have gone back to Japan to further develop nerikomi technique under Eiji’s guidance. I hope to generate public interest in nerikomi in Canada and to share the beauty of Japanese ceramics.”  E. Maeda

Nerikomi technique

Nerikomi (練り込み , lit. “kneading”) is a hand-built pottery technique traditionally found in Chinese and Japanese ceramics dating to the 7^th century. The technique may also be referred to as Neriage or Agateware (UK).

To make various patterns, coloured clay is stacked and pressed together in a precise manner and sliced through in cross-section to form small blocks. These blocks are carefully pressed together to create repeating patterns, then sliced into thin slabs. The slabs are draped and pressed over uniquely carved plaster molds to form bowls or vessel forms.