Born: 1961 in Tachikui, Hyogo prefecture
Medium: Wood Fired Ceramic

     Ichino Masahiko is one of the most creative ceramic artists in Japan. He comes from Tamba, one of the six old kiln sites which have been in production for over 800 years.  Tamba ware has historically been only functional. Ichino has transformed this traditional style into the modern age.
     After graduating from Saga Institute of Art he apprenticed for five years to Imai Masayuki, a well known potter in Kyoto.  He then returned to his home village and family kiln where his father had long been making traditional tea ware.  After two years refining skills and techniques he left to build a wood-fire kiln of his own in Tachikui.
     In 1995, he became the youngest artist to receive the grand prize at the Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition.  This was no small feat as the biennial event pits hundreds of potters against one another with a panel of judges comprised of top ceramicists and experts in the country. 
     Ichino's color scheme is simple yet vivid. He often contrasts a charcoal black and an orange red to catch the eye. His palette is not created by glaze, but by a meticulous, painstaking process of etching tiny crevices into the surface of the base clay, rubbing differently colored clay into those recesses and then firing.  This is repeated by applying another colored clay, and then firing once more. Salt water is applied to areas where he wants red.  In Ichino’s work, the viewer sees new and creative forms as well as a rich color palette and wide range of texture.

Selected Exhibitions:
2000 “Cha-No-Yu” Contemporary Forum, Helsinki City Art Museum, Finland;
         “Ceramics for International Exchange”, China National Art Museum, Beijing       
2001 “Art in Asia”, Katie John Gallery, London
2002 “Asian International Ceramic Art”, Taipei Yinggee Ceramics Museum, Taiwan                  
2003 “Korea-Japan Contemporary Ceramic Art”, Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
2004 “Present-Age Ceramic Art of San-yho and San-in Way V”, East Hiroshima, Japan
         “COLLECT”, (also in ’08,’09,’10,’15), Victoria & Albert Museum, London
2007 “Ceramic from Hyogo” and “Contemporary Works of Japan & Europe”, The              
          Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo
2010 “About the Tea Ceremony - A Viewpoint on Contemporary Kogei, Crafts                
          Gallery, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
2015 “Masahiko Ichino, his Trace in Tamba”, The Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo
2016 “VESSEL - Masahiko Ichino”, Paramita Museum, Mie prefecture, Japan