Before starting your tea bowl assignment, it’s helpful to understand more about a traditionally Japanese aesthetic “Wabi- Sabi”,  which is closely linked to cultural traditions around tea -drinking and the creation of tea bowls which mirror this aesthetic.

Start by reading the short Richard Martin article on Wabi-Sabi, linked here as a PDF: RichardMartin,wabi-sabi.pdf

Next, check out additional images of objects and traditional tea bowls reflecting this aesthetic, linked here as a PDF: wabi-sabiimages.pdf

Now, answer the following questions, at least 2 sentences apiece, posted to Canvas:

1. In your own words, describe your current understanding of the wabi-sabi aesthetic.

2. Is this concept something that you find personally interesting or valuable? (There is no right answer to this question!)

3. Does the nature of our busy, cluttered, fast-paced, consumerist, digitally oriented contemporary world make concepts of wabi-sabi more or less important?