Studio Newsletter

The studio is never short on momentum. Four new 11-foot dangos are now beginning their long drying journey after an extensive building process. At the same time, another kiln has been loaded and fired. Freshly unloaded after an approximately three-week firing that reached temperatures of 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, the latest works mark another milestone in the studio’s ongoing cycle of creation. Even as these pieces cool and settle, attention has already turned to the next stage. Preparations are underway for the busy winter months ahead, with another kiln loaded and ready to fire and the next round of glazing soon to begin.

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.