Shoko Suzuki and her Brazilian noborigama
sources for my talk at Woodfire NC 2025
Starworks' International Wood Firing Conference, Sustain: Woodfire NC 2025, took place in Star, North Carolina, May 22-25, 2025. In addition to being a presenter, I also had work in the Woodfire NC Exhibition.
Below is an extensive list of resources about Shoko Suzuki, including materials not used in my presentation.
Shoko is worth knowing. Enjoy.
Social
∙ Instagram @shokosuzuki_ceramica
∙ Instagram @apoeticadeshoko
∙ Facebook Shoko Suzuki Cerâmica
Representation
∙ Gomide&Co
∙ Atelier Terra Bela
Book – “A Poética de Shoko Suzuki”
Organized by Ivone Nakamura, Neide Caldas, Sônia Bogaz, and Sumaya Mattar; essays by Jacob Klintowitz, João A. Frayze-Pereira, and Maria Amélia Pereira; images by Romulo Fialdini and Fabio Matsuura. (2019, 🇧🇷 PT, 🇬🇧 EN)
Note: Small edition, no reprints planned. To acquire a copy, contact me and I’ll provide the phone number of the person handling them.
Via Impressa
Ivone Nakamura – Shoko's apprentice
∙ Studio website Atelier Terra Bela
∙ Instagram @atelierterrabela
∙ Magazine feature – Excerpt: The serene harmony of Ivone Shirahata’s artistic ceramics / A serena harmonia da cerâmica artística de Ivone Shirahata (Simone Cristina Garcia, Revista GAMA, 2021, 🇬🇧 EN, 🇧🇷 PT, PDF). View complete issue (🇬🇧 EN, 🇧🇷 PT , PDF)
Photographers
∙ Romulo Fialdini
∙ Fabio Matsuura
∙ Tinko Czetwertynski
Galleries & Exhibitions
∙ Gomide&Co – Artist Page and Catalogue
∙ Chen Kong Fang and Shoko Suzuki at Art Basel Hong Kong (Gomide&Co, 2024, 🇬🇧 EN)
∙ O Curso do Sol / The Sun’s Path (Gomide&Co, 2023, 🇧🇷 PT, 🇬🇧 EN)
Features and Interviews
∙ From Japan to Brazil: The ceramics of Shoko Suzuki (Garland Magazine, 2021, 🇬🇧 EN)
∙ A ceramista japonesa Shoko Suzuki e peças feitas em forno medieval (Casa Claudia, Nov–Dec 2012, 🇧🇷 PT)
∙ 「とても光栄、責任感新たに」＝令和３年春・秋の叙勲伝達式 (Brazil-Nippō, Aug 2023, 🇯🇵 JP)
∙ O barro é vida… e pode ser espírito, também! (Revista Sesc SP, 2017, 🇧🇷 PT)
Videos
∙ Shoko: Expressão do Cosmos (Museu A Casa do Objeto Brasileiro, 2013, 🇧🇷 PT)
∙ Arte da cerâmica com Shoko Suzuki (O Beijo, 2017, 🇧🇷 PT)
Academic Papers, Theses & Curatorial Essays
∙ “Suzuki Shoko: relato da trajetória de vida de uma mulher ceramista entre o Brasil e o Japão.” Estudos Japoneses 32 117-130. – 13-page peer-reviewed article based on oral interviews; covers birth name, samurai-lineage family, wartime evacuation, decision to emigrate in 1962, and early years in São Paulo. (Morais, 2012, 🇧🇷 PT)
∙ Shoko Suzuki: na intimidade da terra (Mattar, 2017, 🇧🇷 PT)
∙ Two Japanese Women Ceramists in Brazil: Identity, Culture and Representation (Morais, 2016, 🇬🇧 EN)
∙ Shoko Suzuki e Mieko Ukeseki: duas mulheres ceramistas entre o Japão e o Brasil (Pages 59-88 – Morais, 2014, 🇧🇷 PT)
∙ Suzuki Shoko: relato da trajetória de vida de uma mulher ceramista entre o Brasil e o Japão (Morais, 2012, 🇧🇷 PT)
∙ Mingei in Brazil (Morais, 🇬🇧 EN)
Personal and Family History
∙ Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays award, Autumn Decorations, Consulate-General of Japan, São Paulo. (Press release, 2021, 🇧🇷 PT, 🇯🇵 JP)
∙ Passenger list of the ship Argentina Maru (arrived at the Port of Santos on May 11,1962), listing Yukio and Shoko Suzuki among the passengers, page 46, passengers number 80 and 81. (Museum of Immigration of the State of São Paulo, digital collection, 🇧🇷 PT)
∙ Firebombing of Yokohama – The Command's last major raid of May was a daylight incendiary attack on Yokohama on 29 May conducted by 517 B-29s escorted by 101 P-51s. This force was intercepted by 150 A6M Zero fighters, sparking an intense air battle in which five B-29s were shot down and another 175 damaged. In return, the P-51 pilots claimed 26 "kills" and 23 "probables" for the loss of three fighters. The 454 B-29s that reached Yokohama struck the city's main business district and destroyed 6.9 square miles (18 km2) of buildings; over 1000 Japanese were killed. (Wikipedia)
∙ Portrait of Shoko's grandfather, Ōshima Teishū, from the “Portrait Photograph Album,” Army section, commissioned by Emperor Meiji in 1879 (year Meiji 12). (🇯🇵 JP)
∙ Entry in the Dajōkan Daily Record (Issue 75) documenting the promotion of Ōshima Teishū from army sergeant-major to infantry second lieutenant. (1874, 🇯🇵 JP)
Romulo Fialdini
