Hoshino Satoru (b. 1945) is a highly celebrated contemporary artist working in clay. His ceramic training was in Kyoto before graduating from Ritsumeikan University in 1971. Shortly thereafter, he joined the pioneering Sōdeisha group (from 1974-1980). The movement’s radical approach to sculptural ceramics helped shape his early practice and his understanding of form in opposition to function. In his more recent work, all titled “Spring Snow,” Hoshino’s process reflects what he describes as a “romance” with clay. His coiled and pinched vessels embody this philosophy: their surfaces are marked by numerous indentations, as though the clay has been vigorously kneaded into refined and almost sensuous forms that capture the weight he puts into the clay as he kneads and folds them.

Born in Niigata, Japan, Hoshino is now an internationally celebrated artist. The region’s mountainous landscapes, where snow lingers until late spring, serve as a recurring source of inspiration. In Spring Snow Jar, he evokes the gradual thaw of snow cascading down these peaks, capturing the quiet dynamism of the season. The work reflects Niigata’s springtime atmosphere, where sunlight and moonlight shimmer across snow that has endured the long winter.

The vessel’s body is built through coiling and finished with a luminous glaze that shifts from blue, deep green (due to his use of Oribe glaze), to white, suggesting melting snow and flowing water. Its surface is animated by playful, rock-like indentations formed with the artist’s thumb and fingers—a tactile and childlike technique that recalls both the spontaneity of interacting with clay in his youth and his own childhood spent in the mountains.

Works held in Permanent Collections

The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (Kyoto, Japan) / The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, USA) / The Minneapolis Institute of Art (USA) / International Museum of Ceramics, Faenza (Faenza, Italy) / Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum (Yamaguchi, Japan) / The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama(Wakayama, Japan) / Victoria and Albert Museum (London, United Kingdom) / Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art (Kyoto Japan) / The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park (Shiga, Japan) / Powerhouse Museum (Sydney, Australia) / Province Museum of Modern Art(Ostend, Belgium) / The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga (Shiga, Japan) / Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu (Gifu, Japan) / Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minnesota, USA) / Crafts Gallery, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan) / The International Ceramics Studio (Kecskemet, Hungary) / The Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics (Leeuwarden, Netherland) / The National Museum, Wroclaw, Poland) / National Gallery of Australia (Canberra, Australia) / Hamilton Art Gallery (Victoria, Australia) etc.