Katsue Ibata trained at the Nara College of Fine Arts. Apart from a brief period of teaching in Canada, she has always lived and worked Japan. In 1991 she was one of the demonstrators at the International Ceramics Festival in Aberystwyth. She ‘performed’ her pottery demonstration dressed in a cat suit and dancing to reggae music as if to negate any association with traditional Japanese pottery which has been so influential among British potters.
Hand built earthenware with graphic decoration. The piece exaggerates the ‘handmade’ look that is part of the tea-bowl making tradition in Japan. It makes reference to teapots but it is difficult to imagine it is really functional. Purchased from the exhibition Thought for Food, contemporary tableware by nine Japanese potters, Aberystwyth Arts Centre.