With tears in our eyes, and hands to hearts we bow to our dear Kimi Masui who will be retiring from production porcelain pottery this year. She has told us for the last several years as soon as her last ton of clay was all used up she would be leaving pots after 50 years of making! Please come to the East Bay Open Studios on June 5th and 6th to celebrate her amazing artwork with us; Kimi will be featured in our gallery.
Kimi Masui started making pots while she was at UC Berkeley and continued after graduating with a non-art related degree. A housemate suggested she should consider a ceramics career after she came home one too many times complaining about the accounting job she had. She joined the Guild in 1983, but didn’t move into the building until 1985 because she had another studio with two friends which she found more conducive to working. When her two studio mates retired from pottery their shared studio was no longer for rent, so it was then she moved into the Guild… and the rest is history!
After Kimi does her final firing sometime this summer there will be no more new “Masui” production porcelain made. She will continue to sell her inventory at the Guild, the ACGA (Association of Clay and Glass Artists of California) shows and at the ACCI Gallery until it’s gone. She can hardly believe it’s been 50 years, and in her own words, “That’s a whole lotta clay pots!”
Kimi may spend some of her free time working on more sculptural ceramic pieces and her other great loves, knitting and fiber arts. We are excited for her new adventures and know everyone cherishes their beautiful Masui pieces with a cup of tea in her elegantly made cups poured from a jewel-toned red teapot, a glance at an orchid pot or suiban for Ikebana, or enjoying a tasty dinner on one of her impeccable temouku dinner plates. Please join us in honoring Kimi and her amazing pottery career!
We also want to thank her for continuing to use her sharp, top notch accounting skills in bookkeeping for all of our gallery days and annual sales events.
Countless people’s daily lives have been enriched by Kimi’s luscious, refined, translucent porcelain in their homes. One can truly sense the care and attention she puts into making her pots when using them. For those of us at the Guild, Kimi has touched our lives both professionally and personally with her incredible spirit, positive mentoring, unending support, and continual thoughtfulness. It goes without saying that the world is a more beautiful place because of Kimi and the work she has created. Here is a toast to Kimi!
