Studio Touya
Studio Touya is a handmade pottery studio located in Seagrove NC where Hitomi and Takuro Shibata set up studio and built Japanese style wood kiln. Our focus is to make simple& functional pottery by using local wild clay and wood firing technique. We named our pottery as "Touya" when we started our small pottery studio in Shigaraki, Japan, and it literary means "pottery house" in Japanese which we really like.
Touya UPCOMIng News and events
Another Clay Community: Seagrove potters of North Carolina
Public Works Art Center, Summerville, SC
Dates of Show: January 16 - March 15, 2025
Exhibition: Of Hand and Earth
Penland School of Craft, FOCUS GALLERY
Hitomi and Takuro Shibata
Date: March 11 - April 12, 2025 (New Dates)
Of Hand and Earth features work by ceramicists Hitomi and Takuro Shibata. Originally from Japan, Hitomi and Takuro relocated to Seagrove, North Carolina in 2005. Their focus is to make simple and functional wood fired pottery and sculpture using locally sourced wild clays from North Carolina.
Hitomi and Takuro rely primarily on their hands, simple tools, locally harvested clays, and wood firing methods which are renewable and sustainable in the North Carolina region. They choose hand processes and natural or non-toxic materials as much as possible. Firings take place in their hand-built wood kilns after many days of cutting and splitting firewood. Glazes are made from washed wood ash gathered from wood kilns and wood stoves. Rain water is collected for use in the studio, and pots dry in the sun. As a result of this intentional work, the Shibata’s pottery and sculpture captures a natural, sustainable energy where process and form are one.
Book Release: Wild Clay, Creating ceramics and glazes from natural and found resources, Written by Matt Levy, Hitomi and Takuro Shibata, published by Bloomsbury Publishing and herbert press
Takuro and Hitomi have written our first book “Wild Clay”, with co-author, Matt Levy, and it’s released on Oct 25th, 2022.
This is our wild clay story and our journey from Japan to US, and from the past to today.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/wild-clay-9781789940923/
Special thanks to our dear friends: Josh DeWeese, Dean Adams, John Neely, Randy Edmonson, Bruce Gholson, Ed Henneke, Nancy Gottovi, Mark Zellers and Kate Oggel for their big support. And many thanks to our pottery friends in US and overseas for telling wonderful clay stories for this book.
Cover photo: NC wild raw clays by Takuro Shibata
ZOOM Gallery Talk Shigaraki: Contemporary Artists on an Ancient Tradition, Recorded February 23, 2023
Hosted by Joan B Mirviss LTD
Produced and edited by Bonnie B Lee, Joan B Mirviss LTD.
PANELISTS: PETER CALLAS, artist based in New Jersey, US. HITOMI and TAKURO SHIBATA, artists based in North Carolina, US. OTANI SHIRO, artist based in Shigaraki, Japan. NATSU OYOBE, Curator of Asian Art, University of Michigan Museum of Art, MI with LOUISE CORT, Curator Emerita of Ceramics, Freer Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Moderated by JOAN MIRVISS
Studio Talk 2022: Process and Perspectives in Clay 2022
Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated
Article: Telling Unique Stories by Hitomi Shibata
You can read online for free!
Past Event:
Studio Touya Online Sale, Dec 7th, 2024
Studio Tour: Celebration of Seagrove Potters, Nov 23 & 24, 2024
Exhibition: Little Brown Jug + Dig Deeper: History of Troy Clay (Hitomi&Takuro), Troy, NY, Sep 27 - Nov 16, 2024
Exhibition: Pottery Invitational (Hitomi), Worcester Center for Crafts, Worcester, MA, Nov 2 – 16 , 2024
Featured Artists Exhibition (Takuro), Frank Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC, Sep 24 – Nov 9, 2024
Clay AKAR Yunomi Invitational (Hitomi) August 30th, 2024
Featured Artists: 39th Annual Benefit Auction, Penland School of Craft, NC, Aug 23 & 24, 2024
Workshop: EXPLORING FORMS: Anderson Ranch Art Center, Snowmass Village, CO, July 15 - 26, 2024
Workshop: Wild Clay: Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts, Maplecrest, NY, June 21 - 25, 2024
Studio Tour: Seagrove Woodfire, Seagrove, NC, June 1 & 2, 2024
St. Croix. Valley Pottery Tour, MN, May 10-12, 2024
Workshop: Lecture and Exhibition, Longwood University, Feb 8th to 9th, 2024
Takuro and Hitomi Shibata “Whirlwind” 14”h x 20.5”w