Japanese potters still suffer three years after quake

One of the wonderful things about the internet is the easy friendship and recognition that can happen between potters thousands of miles apart. I know that's not news, of course. Meredith Heywood,, of Whynot Pottery in North Carolina, and a group of other blogging potters put together a great international show in Southern Pines, NC, some years ago. It brought together potters from the US, Europe and Down Under.

I'm thinking about these enhanced worldwide connections now because my internet friend Gas Kimishima, an anagama potter in Hertfordshire, England, has put together an online auction of donated pots from potters around the world, to benefit Tohoku woodfirers in Japan who are still struggling with the effects of the Fukushima earthquake three years ago. Go to kamataki-aid.com and see the pots that have been donated for the auction. My friend Kim Medeiros, a potter here on Cape Cod at The Barn Pottery, turned me on to Gas's project. She donated a woodfired vase, which you can see in the gallery on the website. Other donors include Hannah McAndrew of Scotland, Doug Fitch of England, Phil Rogers of Wales. And there are many others.

Take a look. Bid on a pot. Or just send money to help the potters struggling on the other side of the planed.

The photos: Kim's pot, fired last summer in the train kiln at Castle Hill art center in Truro; my own crackle-slipped and amber ash-glazed bowl, fired here at Hatchville Pottery.