Meet The Potter
Jen Kuroki
What is your name? Jen Kuroki
How long have you been a member at The Potters Studio? Since early 2022
What is your everyday occupation? Previously, I was a graphic designer and an art director mostly for magazines, and then transitioned to marketing for different national and global brands as well as in academia, creating materials for universities. Today, I spend most of my time with ceramics but work part-time doing design/marketing for a women’s center in Los Angeles.
Can you talk about your artistic background? I’ve always been drawn to the arts, taking my first after-school class in oil painting as a 5th grader. I attended a summer design program at Carnegie Mellon University the summer between 11th and 12th grade in high school and then graduated from UCLA Art School with a focus in Visual Communication. Since then, I have studied and assist-taught ceramics in Japan and hope to start that back up here in the Bay Area soon. And finally, I started painting again in 2022 and hope to grow that practice more next year.
When did you start working with clay? Although I took a couple of hand-building ceramics classes at UCLA, I didn’t take clay seriously until a good friend suggested we take a wheel throwing class together as a way to get me off the computer, do something a little more physical and have a fun excuse to hang out. We ended up taking classes at Barnsdall starting around 1998 or so. And my love for clay was born.
What was the first memorable clay piece you made? One of the hand-built sculptures I made at UCLA was pretty funny. It was one of the first pieces I ever made in clay so I took my time to ensure there were no cracks or warping. It was a large conceptual sculpture —a huge box filled with gears and wind up keys that was meant to be worn like a backpack. It was quite heavy and it was called The Speeder-Upper. Conceptually, you put it on, wind it up and it made you speed up to get more done. I’ve always been a workaholic and it was my answer to dealing with all the challenges of being overcommitted and stressed. Unfortunately, it was in the trunk of a friend’s car that got in an accident and was smashed to pieces.
Your ceramic work features vibrant colors and pop art design elements. Can you talk more about your design process, and the story you would like to present through your work? When I first started ceramics, I struggled to find and develop my own style. I took inspiration from a lot of other artists, doing ceramics and in other mediums, and tried to create similar forms. During this time, I discovered underglazes. They felt so familiar because of my background in oil painting and oil pastels. I’ve always loved the different textures you can achieve in clay so instead of painting details, I started carving. I try to encourage people to pick up and touch my work. To this day, I still work in this style.
I feel like my work is very joyful and some say, nostalgic–which I love because I translate that to comforting. I use old memories, new memories, patterns from my childhood home and snapshots from my everyday life as inspiration for my designs. Also, my extended family has lost quite a few loved ones in the past few years and it is with their parting that I reflect more upon my family. I am a 4th generation Japanese American and with time I have come to learn that people of Japanese descent living in America have a separate culture from the Japanese and from Americans. It’s a hybrid way of life fueled by diaspora and I want to highlight and celebrate this mixing and reinventing of cultures that I know.
Can you talk about the gallery shows you’ve participated in, both past and present? I focus on functional pottery and the mundane so my work doesn’t usually fit into the art world. But I have been lucky to have been invited to participate in a few shows. I was invited to be a part of a group show, Infinite Libraries at the Crewest Gallery in 2009, a group ceramics show in Japan with Kian Gallery in 2019 and then three shows at Gallery Nucleus in Los Angeles in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The Infinite Libraries show was mixed media, but the Kian Gallery show and the three at Gallery Nucleus were all ceramics.
How do you feel your ethnic background has influenced your work? I was raised by two parents that didn’t speak Japanese and rarely ate Japanese food. They chose for me to start studying French when I was 5 years old and my sister and I are the only two people in our extended family to not have a Japanese name. When I was little, I told people I was English and French because those were the two languages I spoke. It’s hard for me to put into words my journey coming into my own. I was very close to my grandmother, my “Bachan,” who, although born in Seattle, was educated in Shiga Prefecture, near Kyoto. I learned the most about Japanese culture from her and she was my anchor to Japan. So when I was given the opportunity to move to Japan, I nervously decided to go to learn about “where I came from.” I loved it, but needless to say, although I looked like everyone around me, I was still a foreigner living in a foreign land.
But living in Yokohama and then Tokyo, ironically, taught me to slow down and enjoy what was right in front of me. The cities are wonderlands filled with the many dichotomies of the old world up against the new. You can see generations-old tofu makers next door to neon-filled pachinko parlors or mohawked punk rock kids bowing down to elders. I found beauty in the clashings, the mix of old and new. My time in Japan showed me the beauty in my familial connections and history and has inspired me to build a visual catalog of my family’s history through food and traditions. I want to apply all of these memories, history, clashing of my Japaneseness and of my americanness and storytelling in my art practice.
Did your parents influence your art when you were growing up? Both of my parents were always great at creative projects. They both had an incredible attention to detail but unfortunately, neither went into the arts. My father liked to say he was responsible for me getting into clay, but honestly, I had no idea he had even done ceramics until years after I started. But my father was also a great painter and did leatherwork when he was younger (I hung one of his paintings of me when I was little at my studio) Both of them made incredible birthday cakes for me, my sister and cousins in the shape of a swimming dolphin in cascading waves, R2D2, Hello Kitty, you name it … I was never fully aware of their influence growing up, but art and the openness to being creative and different was always welcomed.
Who are some artists you admire? My newest obsession is Genesis Belanger. I’ve been entertaining the idea of tablescapes (inspired by my family gatherings) and hers are fantastic. I’ve been a long time fan of Jaime Hayon, Maggie Boyd, Julie Moon, Jonathan Yamakami, there are so many more! I also love the illustrator Sha’an d’Anthes and artist James Jean.
As an artist and a business owner, what is an important piece of advice you can share? Advice that I don’t really follow myself, keep records of everything and stay organized. And when you can, delegate and get help.
How do you deal with falling into a creative rut? I feel like I, unfortunately, live in survival mode most of the time. I’m always trying to come up for air. So I TRY (in all caps) to take those times as gifted breaks. I used to attempt to consume as much inspiration as possible, go to bookstores, museums, galleries, talk with other creatives, window shop, but I have found that having a blank canvas is more what I need to start anew. Breathe and make space.
What’s the most inspiring thing you’ve seen, read, watched, or listened to recently?
Last month, we went to the Eastern High Sierras to commemorate the one-year anniversary of my father’s passing. Those mountains have a special place in my family’s heart, as we have spent almost every summer there. There’s a spot called Oh Ridge that marks where the mountains and trees open up to June Lake. Ever since I was a child, I would sit on the right side of the car and have my breath taken away every time the lake comes into view. People, go out in nature. It will change you.
Interview article and photography by Inhae Lee