Harriet Hellman - Sanbaseki Stones III

The sculptures were created during a residency Harriet Hellman was invited to attend at Shiro Oni Studios in Japan. 

The pieces that Hellman created during the residency are a visceral and emotional response to the landscape of Onishi. The artist used all the clays available and experimented by layering them together and manipulating the material to create dynamic forms full of energy and flow related of the river, as well as quieter shapes that are more meditative and reflective of the stones.

The Sanbaseki stones taken from the Kana River are used as standing stones in the Zen gardens of the Buddhist temples and shipped throughout Japan. After reading a documentary book written by a previous resident the artist began to understand the relevance and power of the Sanbaseki stones, and they took on a magical quality. Hellman likes to think that her ‘stones’ are in conversation with each other creating balance and harmony and exuding a sense of peace and calm.

The residency culminated in a 4 day and night anagama wood firing in the mountains of Onishi, and an exhibition at Kanezawa Park, an old sake brewery.

About the artist

Harriet is primarily a process-led ceramic artist working in response to the environment and landscape. Having completed an MA in Ceramics and Glass at the Royal College of Art in 2020, she has gone on to exhibit her work internationally and has been awarded ceramic residencies in The Arctic Circle, Japan, Denmark, UK and Ireland. 

Harriet explores ‘human’ time versus ‘deep’ time in nature, through embodied and performative making practices in ceramics, drawing, photography and film. 

The ceaseless cycle of nature, and a consciousness of deep time is embedded in her making, both physically and emotionally. Her work records her interactions with unfired clay in nature while trying to capture thought, place, space and time. The physicality of the coastline embeds itself in the clay, layering a new narrative, capturing the energy of the moment. This deliberate communing with nature, means letting go, and hoping for unexpected transformed, ‘gifts from the sea’. Ceramic residues are fired, completing this alchemical exchange. The process of layering, tearing and building with clay creates a visceral response, which is both immediate, performative and meditative.