Hideaki Miyamura is on a quest that is as spiritual as it is technical.

"For many years now," he says, "I have been experimenting with my own formulas to create glazes that have never been made before."

The artist's original interest in glazes came from his admiration for the Tenmoku glazes used on Chinese tea bowls from the 12th and 13th century Sung Dynasty. "These are very rare glazes, which no one has been able to reproduce," he explains. "This set me on my own quest to experiment and create new iridescent glazes that have a three-dimensional quality and speak an inner feeling of purity and peacefulness."

The New Hampshire-based potter was born in Japan but educated in the United States. After college Miyamura returned to Japan to apprentice himself for five years to master potter Shurei Miura of Yamanashi. There, after experiments with over ten thousand test pieces and countless formulas, Miyamura developed the stunning and unique glazes that have since built him an international reputation.

He calls these glazes Yohen Tenmoku. "Yohen" literally means "stars glistening in a night sky," and they come in varieties that Miyamura's Wikipedia entry describes as "a compelling gold glaze, the 'starry night' glaze on a black background, and a blue hare's fur glaze."

Beneath those glazes, Miyamura's pieces are high-fire porcelain clay in forms that suggest a classical grace and simplicity. "I am very conscious of the ways in which form interacts with the space around it," he says. "I want my pieces to feel in balance with their environment, to feel as though they coexist naturally with their surroundings."

Miyamura's work is collected by individuals, corporations, and museums all over the world. These museums include, among others, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Museum, The Sackler Museum at Harvard, the Minneapolis Museum of Art, the Israel Museum, and the American Craft Museum, as well as the Pucker Gallery in Boston.

A portion of that work will be on exhibit at the Edwards Gallery of Holderness School from Oct. 30 through Dec. 11. There will be a reception for the artist at the gallery from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 30. The public is invited.

The Holderness School is on Route 175 in Holderness. The Edwards Gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, and on Sunday by appointment.

For more information call either Franz Nicolay at 779-5387, or Kathryn Field at 779-5357. Franz Nicolay is also available via e-mail at franz_nicolay@holderness.org.