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Reiko Miyagi | Episode 511

Reiko Mihagi is a native of Japan who got her ceramic education in Tokyo and experience as a studio potter in Mashiko, a renowned pottery town. After moving to the US Reiko experienced new materials and techniques and developed her signature sgraffito stoneware. Reiko work is infused with an appreciation of subtle beauty and the animistic view of the world from her native land. Reiko lives in Western North Carolina and, along with her pottery studio, runs a small market garden with her husband.

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You said it is important to do the same thing every day. How often are you in making mode?

I do it in a batch. I make the body and then I draw, I do sgraffito. I am someone who takes a long time to get into the mode. But once I get in the mode I do not need to eat or sleep very much, but it just takes too long to get into that mode.

What is a typical workweek look like for you?

I have to go to the studio gallery 2 to 3 times a week. When I do not have to go to the studio gallery I make a clay body and throw. My morning starts late. I am a night owl. I am not very active in the mornings. So I get up and have a coffee time and get on the computer and study and getting inspiration from this and that. That is a time to get on social media and things. The rest of the day I go to my clay studio and make things. When I have a gallery shift I go to my gallery and I bring my plates, mostly plates and cups and I do sgraffito there. So I get some work done while I am showing the demo to the customers. Customers really like seeing the process. It is good for the sales and it is good for the customers to see the artist working. It is kind of a win-win situation.

How much time do you divide between your home studio and your community studio?

It is a little more at my house than at my community studio, close to half and half or 60 to 40.

How much time do you spend on social media for marketing?

More than I would like. In an ideal world I would like to put a 30 minute cap but I tend to spend more. Which is something I want to fix.

You mentioned the ten thousand hour rule. Do you believe wholeheartedly in that or do you believe there are some shortcuts one can take?

Well, there are pros and cons about taking shortcuts. I think if you do it thoroughly of course you master the skill and what is the purpose of mastering the skill, if you get muscle memory doing something then you have room in your brain to spend on other things. Like expression and things like that. playing the piano for example, while you are struggling with how to move your fingers you could never go to expression or things like that. So in terms of art I don’t have to worry too much about how should I move my carving tool. It is pretty fluent for me right now. So I can really focus on visual image and things like that. So if you do short-cuts, I don’t know. It depends on the person I think. Some people like to spend a lot of time on really basic training and some people are able to figure it out a lot quicker than other people. So it comes down to the individual, but I would not overlook a body of basic skill.

Which is your preferred way of selling, online or in person?

You know, in person is the easiest by far because I do not have to do shipping. I have the studio gallery so it is very easy for me to do. So if I can get the same amount of sales I would rather do it in person. I enjoy communicating with the customer and they get to hear what I say about the art, so they can enjoy my work more. Surely they enjoy talking to the artist. So I prefer that way above the online store. But the online store does other things, I can certainly sell my work to people who live a long distance away. So it helps to have both.

Book

The Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzo

Contact

reiko-miyagi.squarespace.com

Instagram: @studiotabularasa