Born in Hawai'i of Japanese parents in 1922, Toshiko Takaezu is considered one of the finest ceramic artists in the world today. Her five-plus decade career has touched the lives of many students, colleagues, and collectors.

 Early in her career, Takaezu developed an approach to art that combines techniques and sensibilities of both East and West. In the 1950s, she studied in Japan with master potter Toyo Kaneshige and in 1967 began teaching at Princeton University, which awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1996.

Toshiko Takaezu: The Earth In Bloom, is the first book ever published on the lifework of Ms. Takaezu. This widely celebrated, collected, and respected ceramic artist and her work are shown in this lovely and loving tribute. Toshiko Takaezu: The Earth in Bloom is a beautiful color photography book of Toshiko and her pots. Her forms are photographed in their element: in the studio, out of doors, nestled among the flowers.

"In my life I see no difference between making pots, cooking, and growing vegetables. They are all so related. However there is a need for me to work in clay. It is so gratifying and I get so much joy from it, and it gives me many answers in my life."

Over the years, Takaezu's signature forms have become the closed vessel, rounded to an open, gentle point at the top. They have come in many sizes, with the major, large pots (Sometimes app. 4 ft. in diameter, while more than 6 ft. tall!) of relatively recent vintage. But her extraordinary creativity could already be seen with her early 2-spouted pot with small openings at the top, which when seen from above look like a pair of eyes. Her plates and tea bowls over the years have exhibited that same gentle and soft creativity, as has her outstandingly blue teapots, the genius of which lies in the organic links between color and shape: these 3-dimensional forms never seem to be decorated!

Takaezu has shared her creativity, her imagination and her highly disciplined practical techniques in many ways—as formal faculty at Cranbrook, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, at Cleveland Art Institute, and at Princeton University for 25 years; as a workshop teacher at many places, including more than 20 summer stints for Skidmore College's Summer Six Ceramics program; and then in a more intensive, personal way with her annual, year-long apprentices at her studio in Quakertown, NJ.

In this way she has inspired several generations of ceramics students.

The many awards and honors she has received, from the Hawaii Living Treasure Award to her honorary doctorate degree from Princeton, also demonstrate the wide range of people and institutions that find inspiration, history, and meaning in her work and life.

Stan Yake's richly illustrated book captures the elegance of Takaezu's work in 150 pages, featuring 175 color images. Available in hard cover, $50, or soft cover, $40, this book is a must-have for any student of ceramics, art department or library.

Toshiko Takaezu's art has been featured in major one-person exhibitions, including at:

The Contemporary Museum of Hawaii, Honolulu
The Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
Dickinson College, Carlyle, PA
Montclair Museum, Montclair, NJ
LongHouse Reserve Museum, East Hampton, NY
The American Crafts Museum of New York (Now, The Museum of Art and Designs)
The Museum of Art of The University at Albany, Albany, NY
The Hunterdon Museum, Clinton, NJ
Goshen College, Goshen, IN
Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, IL
The Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
The Ohr-O'Keefe Museum, Biloxi, MI
The Charles Cowles Gallery, NY, NY
The Gallery at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Princeton, NJ
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Manatee Community College, Bradenton, FL
Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art, Greensboro, North Carolina
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY

And her work is featured in the permanent collections of many great museums, including:

The Japanese American National Museum of Los Angeles, CA
The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, NY
The Milwaukee Museum of Art
The Johnson Wax Collection, Racine, WI
The Honolulu Academy of Art, Honolulu, HI
The Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY
Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Boston Fine Arts Museum, Boston, MA
The Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI
St. Paul Gallery, St. Paul, MN
Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH