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
NCECA Detroit Gallery Expo, Northern Clay Center, March 25 - 28, 2026 (Hitomi and Takuro)
TBA
Small Favors 2026, The Clay Studio (Hitomi and Takuro)
NCECA Detroit: March 25 - 28, 2026
The Clay Studio: Oct 8 - Dec 31, 2026
Article: The Studio Potter February Issue (Studio Touya)
“Carrying Fire Across the Ocean: Our Wood-Firing Journey”
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:
Celebration of Seagrove Potters Fall Studio Tour, Sat, Nov 22 and Sun, Nov 23, 2025
Artist Conversation: Radical Ceramicists in NC (Hitomi), Ackland Museum, UNC Chapel HIll, Aug 27, 2025
Wild Clay Workshop (Takuro), Starworks Ceramics, Aug 21-27, 2025
Conference: CONTAF, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Aug 6-8, 2025
Workshop: Wild Clay, Making and Place, John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasston, NC, July 13-26, 2025
New England Wood Fire Conference, New Haven, CT, June 27, 28, 2025
Woodfire NC Main Conference, Starworks NC, Star, NC, May 22-25, 2025
Woodfire NC Pre-conference, Studio Touya, Seagrove, NC, May 17-21, 2025
Celebration of Seagrove Potters, Spring Pottery Tour, Seagrove, NC, April 25, 26 and 27, 2025
Exhibition: Of Hand and Earth, FOCUS GALLERY, Penland School of Craft, Penland, NC, Spring 2025
Another Clay Community: Seagrove potters of NC, Public Works Art Center, Summerville, SC, Spring 2025
Takuro and Hitomi Shibata “Whirlwind” 14”h x 20.5”w