Potters Market at the Mint
September 27, 2025
Studio Touya, Seagrove NC
Studio Touya is a wood fired, Japanese style pottery studio which was set up by Hitomi & Takuro Shibata in Seagrove, NC. Using NC local wild clays for functional pottery and sculptures, and all works are wood-fired. Making simple and unique ceramic works.
Takuro Shibata is a Japanese native, ceramic artist in Seagrove, NC. He holds a degree in engineering and applied chemistry from Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. His interest in ceramics led him to become an apprentice at local pottery studio in Shigaraki in 1997. He and his wife Hitomi first came to Massachusetts in 2001, had residency program at Cub Creek Studio in 2003, and came to Seagrove area in 2005 when Takuro accepted a position as the director of STARworks Ceramics. They established Studio Touya in historic Seagrove and built a Shigaraki style Anagama kiln and a bourry box wood kiln together. Takuro has developed a national reputation as a studio potter and as a wild clay specialist, and was invited by many conferences and workshops include NCECA, Penland School of Crafts and Woodfire NC Conference. He was selected as a member of International Academy of Ceramics (IAC) in Geneva, Switzerland in 2019.
Hitomi Shibata is a Japanese native and a ceramic artist in Seagrove, NC. She has Ceramic art degrees (Bachelor of Education & Master of Education in ceramic art) from Okayama University in Japan. She established her professional career in Shigaraki which is one of the oldest pottery villages in Japan. Rotary International scholarship brought her to the USA and she became a special student at University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in 2002. She came to Seagrove, NC, USA in 2005 with Takuro Shibata, and set up their permanent pottery studio and wood kilns since then. She makes functional wood-fired pottery and sculptural ceramic work and fires wood kilns several times a year with Takuro Shibata. In 2017, she became a member of International Academy of Ceramics (IAC) in Geneva, Switzerland. She has many exhibitions in Japan, USA and Internationally.