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Press, 31 May 1978, Page 6

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“Black glazes” might have sounded like “brack graces,” but for 45 aspiring potters watching Shigeo Shiga in Christchurch yesterday it was his hands that told the story.

Mr Shiga, a Japanese potter living in Australia, is in New Zealand to judge the national Fletcher Brownbilt pottery competition in Auckland. The Canterbury Potters’ Association learned of his wish to visit the South Island and asked him ta take a one-day school in Christchurch.

He readily agreed, and the association’s rooms were crowded yesterday with silent and absorbed pupils. They were especially keen to watch his “chattering” technique — an unusual method of decorating a rotating pot by flicking it with a very finely controlled small instrument — and his glazing. Mr Shiga earns his I'velihood from the sale erf his pots, which he makes in his workshop on the fringe of Sydney. He emigrated to Australia 12 years ago, but

intends to return to Japan to live again soon.

In Australia he has lectured; in ceramics in a tertiary in- 1 stitution and at summer; schools, held one-man exhibitions in six Australian centres, and won two recent big awards, one a gold medal at an international exhibition of contemporary ceramics in Italy. His works are represented i in state and national gallery! collections, and in Univer-1 sity craft and private collections in Australia and overseas.