The Great Wave Off Kanagawa

By Hokusai

About Hokusai

About My Piece

Lived from 1760-1849
from japan
ukiyo-e painter and printmaker
Edo period - final period of traditional Japan, very closed off to the world, very peaceful, lots of art.
The Great Wave is part of a woodblock print series called 36 views of Mount Fuji.
In his early teens, he became and apprentice to a block cutter, a very key part of the woodblock printing process.
At 19, he started making art of the studio of Katsukawa Shunshō, a very successful artist.
Not much else training in the arts.
He also wrote poetry and non-fiction.

I have had a bowl like this on my ceramics pintrest board for a long time, and so when I started looking at master works of art and found The Great Wave, I knew it was perfect. I I started off with a slab, and put it into a wooden slump mold of a bowl. I left a lot of extra clay towards one side of the bowl, and started to shape that into the wave. Then, to get the texture, I stabbed the waves edge with a needle and scoring tool. I then glazed it with regular glaze, in hoped that the lines would all blend together nicely. I really like how my piece turned out, the only thing I don't like it that it is slightly wobbly. If I were to do this again, I would have rushed less, and made sure that it was sturdy before I let it dry out.