Description
Toshiko Takaezu (1922-2011) lived most of her life in rural New Jersey, where she made pots, gardened, and taught ceramics at nearby Princeton University. She was born in Hawaii to Japanese parents, where she grew up amid landscapes and traditions that had a profound influence on her art. This award-winning documentary from 1993 travels with Toshiko to Hawaii to see the “devastation forest” and the sunrise at Haleakala. The film includes some of Toshiko’s Princeton students, who were invited to do a raku firing at her home studio. Her studio remains active, check out The Takaezu Studio in Quakertown, New Jersey for upcoming events.
Toshiko Takaezu: Portrait of an Artist won a CINE Golden Eagle, as well as the New York Emmy for Outstanding Original Music for the score by composer John Hodian. It was written, produced, and edited by Susan Wallner. Here’s a remembrance that Susan wrote shortly after Toshiko Takaezu’s death in 2011.
