Ceramic works by Kiichi Takeuchi

Pottery Village in Indonesia

(5/11/2023)

Pottery Village in Indonesia

  • Date: 2023-05-11
  • Tags: #pottery #blog

I landed in Yogyakarta, located one hour from Jakarta. It is known as "The City of Culture," "University City," or "The City of Culture" because I wanted to visit a village called Kasongan. The village has been known for pottery since at least 1925 1. When I arrived in the village in the late afternoon, I started hearing loud religious chants everywhere. Half of the storefronts on the main street were still open, and I noticed massive line-ups of terracotta pieces. Most of the forms were large decorative vases and jars. As I glanced at the narrow side road, I saw an old lady walking towards the residential area. I was attracted to the Buddha heads and lions on the walls, so I decided to explore more in that area rather than the storefronts on the main street. As I continued walking, I discovered even more gigantic objects that couldn't fit in those small shops: a 6-foot lion statue, a tall vase, and even more oversized jars. While following the old lady for a while, I caught a whiff of a burning smell. I realized it was coming from a wood-firing kiln.

Exploring Pottery Village Day 1

When I walked up to the kiln, I saw a potter working on it. I asked him if I could watch for a while and take some pictures with my phone. He gave me a big thumbs up with a smile. As I observed more closely, I found the firing process to be really interesting. While I wasn't sure if this was a common format for terracotta/low-temperature firing, I noticed that he was throwing straw from the top and stoking very thin, long wood logs from the bottom. When he wasn't busy, I showed him a picture from my previous wood fring. He then offered me the opportunity to throw a couple of logs into the kiln, and of course, I did. Soon, I realized that he was using the long logs placed against the bottom entrance to control the airflow and increase the temperature, I presume. As I looked around, I discovered a location where he kept chopped woods. I noticed some thicker ones, so I believe he had just started the firing process with relatively lighter ones, and those pots were in the preheating stage.

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Exploring Pottery Village Day 2

The next day, I returned to the village in the early morning so that I could visit each store front one by one. Surprisingly, one of the shop owners mentioned the Japanese pottery village of Shigaraki during our conversation. I told him that I would be visiting there the following week. As I walked away from the main street, I stumbled upon a potter who was making a large jar using the coil building method.

I asked him if I could watch, and he kindly invited me into the remaining space since the entire studio was filled with oversized pots. After he finished his work, he invited me to the back of the studio, where there was a kiln that had just finished firing. I had the opportunity to see how he stacked the pots in the kiln.

Visiting Art School in Indonesia

After visiting Kasongan, I headed to the Indonesian Art Institute, which is located just a few miles away. I had already made an appointment, and Mr. Heri Abi kindly gave me a campus tour. He introduced me to the craft and sculpture professors and students. The university covers various disciplines including Fine Arts, Craft, Performing Arts, and more, so I had the chance to see some pottery projects as well. The campus was large, and I noticed a conference being held there.


References

  1. Gustami, SP. et al, Journal of Arts and Humanities (JAH), Volume -3, No.-2, February, 2014

Appendix: Practical Travel Notes

In case if people want to visit there (and my own reminder purpose), I am making notes of my travel.

How you go around (e.g. from USA)

  • Jakarta to Jogyakarta - use Garuda Airline, recommended to use better carrier
  • Must have App
    • Grab
    • Google Translate (Download Language)
    • Google Map (Download Offline Map)
  • Exchanging $100 is enough for 2 - 3 days to go around. You can not exchange currency at hotel.
  • Better to order roamming plan. T-Mobile has minimum bandwidth for free. It's enough to order Grab. I also carried 2nd phone with cheap sim $30 Amazon) I highly recommend Simify. All you need is to set start date, no need for APN configurations, etc.

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