Shunichi Inoue was born in 1946 in Saga Prefecture, Japan and studied painting at the Academy of Tokyo from 1967 to 1969. Inoue received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts Degree at the Kyoto City University of the Arts, where he studied from 1969 to 1975 – when he was then appointed Lecturer in Ceramics at the Bendigo College of Advanced Education, teaching there for three years. In 1976 he received the Bendigo Pottery International Award and first prize in the Preston and Northcote Community Hospital Award.

Inoue exhibited actively during his short stay in Australia and participated in several group exhibitions in Japan and held solo exhibitions in Australia at the Craft Centre, South Yarra, in 1976; the Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, in 1977 and the Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery, Brisbane, in 1978. At the Sydney exhibition the comment by Hiroe Swen, another well-regarded Japanese/Australian potter, was recorded on the exhibition poster:

Another satisfying aspect of Inoue’s pottery worth emphasising is the complete harmony of the tactile quality and the sophistication of his glazes with the overall form of his pots.

When Inoue returned to Japan he spent three years potting professionally in Saga Prefecture and subsequently taught at Fukuoka University. Inoue was invited through the Japan Foundation to be Visiting Professor at the Darwin Community College in late 1984 and subsequently visited southern states. His work is represented in the collection of the Queensland Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

Shinoue’s work is quite distinctive within the group of Japanese potters who produced works in Australia in the 1970s. Although his forms are essentially wheelthrown they are usually altered and, in addition, he favoured coloured matte glazes.

Research Curator, Queensland Heritage, Queensland Art Gallery.

Writers:

Cooke, Glenn R.

Date written:

2008

Last updated:

2011