Tesfaye Gelaye Throws Pots, Helps his Native Ethiopia
from the 9/02 paper Ibaraki Report
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Tesfaye Gelaye, a native of Ethiopia, works as a visual artist in Kasama. Gelaye talks about his life and work in the text that follows:
How did you come to live in Japan?
I got a UNESCO scholarship 28 years ago to study ceramics in Japan. The goal at the time was for me to return to Ethiopia to teach ceramics and thereby to contribute to the state of affairs in my home country. I met my wife, we married, and I have resided in Japan ever since.
As a visual artist, how is Japan?
I'm very pleased to be working in Japan. Japanese society acknowledges and respects the arts. Status and respect are conferred upon artists of merit. What other societies designate people as "Living National Treasures" for the skill that they possess in their particular field?
You work primarily in ceramics, something that's a prominent part of Kasama. How did Kasama come to be a center for ceramic work?
The soil lends itself to ceramics. It has a high iron content.
Describe your approach to your work.
I respect and have benefited from Japanese ceramic techniques. My work is a combination of Japanese techniques and my own Ethiopian ideas. For example, I mix clays of different colors. When I make a pot on the wheel, the variations of color are intrinsic to the piece rather than simply on the surface as is the case with glazes. For the most part, I mix blue and white clays in my work. Those two colors convey eternity and infinity, concepts that I really take to.
How do people respond to your work?
I'm unique. Whatever the nature of your creative work, you'll probably find in Japan that most of your customers are women. The men are busy working and may not have a chance to see my work. Or maybe the women who buy my work are the ones with better taste (laughs). Among fellow ceramic artists in Kasama, we talk about the trends in ceramics in various countries and the "cute" esthetic of contemporary Japan.
Talk about your ceramic sculpture.
Mother Africa is an important part of who I am. I was given birth and nurtured by Mother Africa. She is confident and assertive, with big breasts and large buttocks. I construct pieces like this to affirm my African identity. The relief sculpture is of the Ethiopian who is best known in Japan: the marathon runner Abeb Beklea. I took a plaster of paris cast from a clay relief that I made from photos of him. This way, I easily can make a number of copies.
Talk about the ups and downs of pursuing a career in the visual arts.
Making art is great. It is an epiphanal experience to create something. I can spend countless hours on my work and not notice the time at all. That's how thoroughly absorbed I am in my work. The down side is having to focus on getting customers. The business end of the affair can be a real struggle. Customers regularly ask me to lower my prices. So sometimes I overprice my work just to be able to lower the price later. Art doesn't have an intrinsic price attached to it. It exists in its own realm, and the goal is to remain aware of that, whatever the hassles on the business end.
You have started a Non-Profit Organization focused on agricultural training in Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Future Children will work in the countryside to train people to farm. Upon their graduation, the trainees will become individual farmers with the respnsabilit to be leaders and pioneers in the development of the countryside. Our objective is to have a curriculum that is environmentally conscious. The training center will be used by the surrounding people, young and old alike. The training center will have an international spirit that incorporates modern farming techniques.
