Sibonelo shiga biography channels

By Cammi Climaco

While I’ve followed Takuro Kuwata on Instagram for the past seven years, I’ve only seen his work floating by on a glowing two-inch by two-inch screen. Seeing his show Together Shiyoze! (Let’s Get Together!) at Salon 94, through February 15th, was a bit of a parasocial experience. I was confidently familiar with Kuwata’s work, so much so, I thought I would walk into the show and just see Instagram; bright white backgrounds and flat, tiny pieces with big color. But, as someone who makes ceramics, teaches ceramics, and thinks about ceramics at least twelve hours a day, it had an in-person wow factor I wasn’t expecting and was surprisingly more intimate.

Looking closely at his pieces, I could see the story of the maker: the hands, the anger, the ecstasy, the glory, the defeat, his ego and humor. He’s showing us a Japanese man in Japan and a Japanese man in America. And most importantly, a ceramicist who clearly loves

•