Studio Newsletter

During the spring months, Jun Kaneko and his assistants have been constructing six-foot and eleven-foot Dangos using his distinctive hand-building technique with large stoneware slabs. After each sculpture is assembled and refined, it must dry for several months before firing can begin. Every piece undergoes an initial firing, followed by the application of surface decoration and patterns, and then a second firing—resulting in a truly one-of-a-kind work of art.

Kaneko created his first Dangos in 1983, naming them after the Japanese word for “round shape.” These early works were produced using an industrial kiln in Omaha, Nebraska, provided by the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. The original hand-built monoliths stood six feet tall and weighed approximately five and a half tons.

As the winter months draw to a close, Jun Kaneko and his studio assistants have been deeply engaged in the hand-building of a new series of Dangos, each formed from Jun’s distinctive stoneware clay body. This physically demanding process emphasizes scale, surface, and material presence, indicators that have long defined Kaneko’s sculptural practice.

Alongside the building process, the studio has been conducting extensive glaze testing, refining color, texture, and surface with great care. Newly completed works are now being carefully glazed in preparation for kiln firing in the coming months. Through this transformative stage, the surfaces will shift in subtle and often unexpected ways, revealing the dynamic interplay between clay, glaze, and fire that is central to Kaneko’s work.

This fall at Jun Kaneko Studio, Jun Kaneko and his assistants are immersed in the creation of a new series of Dangos, ranging in scale from two to seven feet in height. Each work is constructed by hand using slab-building techniques, a process that requires two to four weeks of focused labor for each form.

Following construction, the sculptures undergo an extended drying period of two to eighteen months, ensuring structural integrity before entering phases of glazing and firing. These large-scale Dangos continue Kaneko’s lifelong exploration of scale, form, and surface, embodying the artist’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of ceramic tradition while bringing a renewed sense of monumentality.