Force of Nature

Maske chronicles the life and work of Randy Johnston, renowned contemporary American potter. Johnston creates utilitarian wares that recall Neolithic forms and are modernised via their partnership with a Japanese folk aesthetic. His training began in the American Midwest, took him to a year of study with Shimaoka Tatsuzo in Mashiko, Japan, and finally returned him to River Falls, Wisconsin, where he is a working potter who maintains fidelity to the tradition and philosophy that initially turned him to ceramics: mingei. His vessels, fired in Japanese-style wood-burning kilns, are imbued with the mingei ideal: handcrafted, functional, and representative of the Wisconsin setting where he lives and finds inspiration. As an artist, Johnston has been able to observe his environment and translate it into his own voice. He creates work that pays homage to these influences but is still unique and distinctly his own. Characterised by warm and vibrant colours and evidence of intense ash flow within the kiln, Johnston’s work ranges from large jars that appear as if they have just been unearthed to artisan sushi platters that look right at home in the twenty-first century.