Click for information about upcoming exhibits:
Eutin, Germany September-October, 2008
Valencia, Spain January-April 2009
Munich, Germany May-September 2009

 

GERD KNÄPPER
Sculpture & Ceramics

Taiyo (sun stele), clay, molded sculpture, 1986,  H. 66 x 47 x 21 cm. (Available in bronze),  private collection.
The gatehouse at Tarosaka, with a flowering buckwheat field. It houses a refurbished display room in the former rice storage area.

WELCOME TO TAROSAKA STUDIOS AND RESIDENCE


An evening view of Tarosaka manor showing the dormer windows and reed thatched roof. It was first built about 140 years ago, and restored and redesigned in 1976 by Gerd Knäpper. 

Knapper posing in his atelier with design of sculpture"Genesis" commissioned by Tokai-mura Ibaraki, Japan 2003
This five-chambered wood fired climbing kiln was designed after ancient Korean and Japanese kilns and built by Gerd Knäpper in 1978. 

It is my distinct pleasure to present the German artist Gerd Knapper who has been living in Mashiko for 6 years and in Daigo for 20 years and has been strongly influenced by the country and in turn strongly influenced pottery in Japan. Ever since Knapper built his own climbing kiln (noborigama) and established his Tarosaka studios in Daigo, where he came into his own and where he built his fabulous and world famous Japanese manor, he has succeeded in combining the Japanese style with the technical expertise brought to Japan from his native Germany.

Knapper has done what no western ceramist had accomplished before him. He not only won both the prestigious “Minister of Education Award” and the no less prestigious “Prime Minister’s Award”, but he followed his distinctly individual vision and still was enormously successful with the Japanese public.

Knäpper’s art reflects his affinity for nature. Shells and flowers arc among his recurring forms. He demonstrates respect for the achievements of Japanese potters, yet he is only Knäpper the artist, who cannot be claimed by a country or a style. I hope the presentation of this important artist’s work by Wako forms a bridge uniting the creativities of two geographically distant but in many respects kindred nations. I wish Gerd Knapper’s exhibition and its organizers the success they so amply deserve.

 

 

Dr. Heinrich-D. Dieckmann

Ambassador of the Federal Republic Germany

Tokyo, October 12.1995

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Visit my friend Kerry Crutcher's site to see portrait paintings, drawings and figure sculpture.
Kerry's site

Address: GERD KNÄPPER Tarosaka Studios 

 1222 Hanawa, Daigo-town, Kuji-gun,

 Ibaraki 319-3537 JAPAN 

Tel: +81-29572-2011,    Fax:+81-29572-9005 

 E-mail: gerdknapper@abelia.ocn.ne.jp 

 

Web site design by Gerd Knapper and Kerry Crutcher