Wednesday May 30, 2018
The final event of SOU’s Japanese Week took place last Saturday at the studio of Jack Langford, sculptor in Phoenix (Oregon, that is). Jack owns property that includes a big barn where 4 sculptors work, and his work can be found on line. This show was of Wataru Sugiyama’s work followed by the casting of pieces of bronze for his newest sculpture. Wataru is one of our valley’s most notable sculptors and there is more about him on line (Google Wataru Sugiyama sculptor). I met him years ago through our next door neighbors Herschel King and Liz Vesecky. Hersch had been doing ceramics with his help, they were friends and owned one of his sculptures. When Hersch and I were doing ceramics in his backyard studio in the early 2000s, we went to Wataru’s studio several times to roll out slabs of clay. He was already locally famous and a warm and open person as well as a fine artist.
The event began at 7PM and Margie Mee, her partner Michael, and I arrived to find a huge barn with 3 rooms full of Wataru’s sculptures, a lavish spread and a variety of Japanese teas. His work has become richer and much more diversified since our last encounter, but still there is a signature impish quality. A plaster rhinoceros stood near the entrance, and, although we did not know it, the pieces to be poured later were for its head.
I took photos of some of the pieces with my new iPad.
After we had viewed the work Wataru gave an illustrated talk about his life and work, full of anecdotes and very engaging. His trajectory was far from sculpture, he was trained as an engineer. 
And then it was time to go outside for the pouring.
Two fires had be started, one in a vat
containing a bucket for the bronze bars
that were to be melted, and next to it
a bucket of hot sand (not shown) for the casts.
It was gorgeous weather, and as the sky darkened the almost-full moon cast its own glow over the rapt crowd. 
When the bronze was molten and the night sky black, Wataru and Jack lifted the bucket out of the fire and carefully brought it over to the casts, tilted it and poured its contents into very small holes on top of the casts. This was clearly the most delicate and dangerous part of the process.
The casts were then left to cool and the brilliant fire colors dimmed and winked out until they were once again white.
Jack began whacking the cooled casts with a mallet to free the bronzes from them.
As pieces flew off some landed hazardously close to the crowd. Unnoticed by me or anyone else, several sparks lodged on my reed sling-purse next to my chair. Suddenly (and urgently) a voice behind me said ‘Your purse is on fire!’ and it was. I picked it up thinking frantically about losing its contents – credit cards, driver’s license, National Parks Pass, Medicare card, a photo of Eric on his bike, and sundry other treasures. But Jack came dashing over with a water spout and sloshed the fire out. Miraculously, the contents, and even the lining of the purse, were intact.
As if the pouring were not enough, 
this little drama put a proper finale to
the evening —– a memorable event indeed.