Ceramic
From "Embrace" series
Manufactured by Momoko Takeshita Keane
Japan, 2018
Ceramics, Glaze, Hand building, colling, scartched surface and underglazing, reduction firing, wood kiln
Measurements
30 cm x 20 cm x 36h cm
11,8 in x 7,9 in x 14,2h in
Edition
Unique Piece
Exhibitions
Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale 2018, Korea
Smithsonian Craft Exhibition 2019, USA
Taipei Yingge Ceramics Museum's Ceramics Bienalle 2018, Taiwan
Triennale of Kogei in Kanazawa 2019, Japan
International Ceramics Festival, Mino 2020 Japan (Honorable Mention)
Sogo Museum of Art tour 2019, Japan
ADI Design Museum, Milan 2024, Italy (ORIGIN of SIMPLICITY: 20 Visions of Japanese Design)
Museums
New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan
Cincinatti Art Museum, Cincinatti, OH, USA
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH, USA
About
The Embrace Series by Momoko Takeshita Keane embodies the union of form, surface, and fire. Built entirely by hand through the ancient techniques of coil-building and pinch-building, each piece grows gradually from the base upward, acquiring a sense of organic rhythm and sculptural presence. Once shaped, the surfaces are delicately incised with bamboo and metal tools, creating a textile-like texture that blurs the boundary between clay and fabric.
Rather than being glazed, the works are placed directly into a wood-fired kiln as greenware—a demanding process in which the clay is subjected to three to five days of continuous firing. During this time, the flame, ash, and atmosphere of the kiln leave their indelible marks: subtle shifts of tone, smoky veils, and areas of melted ash that act as natural glazes. The circular motifs result from fire clay disks set on the surface as resists, while the occasional bluish streak, known to the artist as an “Angel’s Tear”, emerges serendipitously from falling ash—an accident elevated to grace.
The Embrace Series reflects Momoko’s philosophy that the artist shapes the form, but the kiln determines the color. Each work is therefore both intentional and unpredictable, a collaboration between human touch and elemental force, resulting in ceramics that feel timeless, intimate, and alive.
Biography
Momoko Takeshita Keane is a Kyoto-based ceramic artist whose work bridges the traditions of Japanese kogei and the language of contemporary sculpture. Born and raised in Kyoto, she was surrounded from an early age by the city’s rich craft heritage, which sparked her fascination with clay. She first studied ceramics in the historic pottery region of Shigaraki in the 1970s, later refining her practice at the Kyoto City Ceramic Research Institute, before establishing her own studio.
Her trajectory took a decisive turn when she moved to the United States in 2002. Working with an anagama kiln at Fred Herbst’s studio in upstate New York, she fully embraced the unpredictable beauty of wood-firing, discovering how flame and ash could shape the surface of her vessels as much as her own hand. During her years in Ithaca, she was deeply influenced by the openness of the local ceramic community, as well as by the freedom she felt outside of Japan’s established traditions. Exposure to artists such as Lucy Rie and Isamu Noguchi, along with the philosophy of mingei—the Japanese folk craft movement—further informed her approach.
Today, Keane creates her works in a serene studio on the outskirts of Kyoto, adjacent to the garden designed by her husband, landscape architect Marc Peter Keane. Her practice is characterized by hand-built forms using coiling techniques, finished with distinctive fabric-like textures incised into the clay surface. Fired over days in wood-fueled kilns without glaze, her ceramics emerge as singular works that embrace imperfection, chance, and the transformative power of fire.
Keane’s vessels are often described as standing between the rustic and the refined, the simple and the complex. They embody her conviction that ceramics can transcend utility to become poetic objects, at once contemporary and timeless. Through her synthesis of heritage and experimentation, she has carved out a unique voice in the international ceramics world, carrying the essence of Japanese kogei into the 21st century.
