A Brief Introduction and Background

"A journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step." ~Lao Tsu

And so must a blog of a thousand posts begin with a single paragraph. Unfortunately, brief, generalizing descriptions have never been my forte, but I do feel that this blog deserves a bit of background material. So, please forgive me as I stumble through this. More graceful words are soon to come in future posts.

I'm Meredith, and this (see above, soon) is Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, a.k.a. Togei no Mori. For more information see (respectively) http://www.meredithmcgriff.com/ and http://sccp.main.jp/. During a previous visit to Japan in the summer of 2005, my kind host family brought me to Shigaraki, since they knew I was studying ceramics. At the time, I had no idea there was a residency program here, but I was certainly impressed and fascinated by the artwork and facilities. I later stumbled across information about the residency program while searching for post-college opportunities, and hoped to one day have an opportunity to participate. Earlier this year, I was excited to hear that NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts - http://www.nceca.net/) was sponsoring a one month residency here at Shigaraki, and hurriedly applied.

Thus I am here now as a resident artist for the month of September, 2008. My intentions are to continue my work with sculptural vessels similar to those I have been creating, but with slightly more Japanese flavor, since I am, after all, in Japan, and will likely be gaining a bit more knowledge about Japanese raku processes and traditions. And, since the discovery of the high-speed internet connection in my dormitory room here, I've decided it might be enjoyable and possibly beneficial to share my experiences and discoveries with the world... or at least the world wide web.

So begins the journey...