Listening to the Waves

2007

Listening to the Waves, 2007. Sakiyama Takayuki (Japanese, b. 1958). Glazed stoneware; overall: 57.1 x 58.4 x 44.1 cm (22 1/2 x 23 x 17 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift 2020.190 © Sakiyama Takayuki Sakiyama Takayuki creates works in stoneware with a specially developed glaze incorporating sand. He established his kiln in 1987 on Japan’s Izu peninsula in Shizuoka prefecture, an area known for its dramatic ocean views and beaches. His preoccupation with the sound and rhythm of the ocean tides informs his pieces. While his work is sculptural, featuring linear textures on both exteriors and interiors, it is also functional as a vase. Beyond waves, the surfaces of his pieces have been compared to the raked pebble gardens, or “dry landscapes” (karesansui) often encountered in Japanese Buddhist monastic settings. After graduating from the Osaka University of Arts, Sakiyama spent three years traveling Japan in search of the perfect seaside village in which to build his studio.