In a colorfully, cozy studio nestled in a hollow near Cowee Mountain, potter Shizuka Krebs can be found throwing clay. Typically keeping her company is one of her beloved canine friends. Krebs is a self-sufficient potter who works out of her custom-built pottery studio. Her pottery is inspired by her love for nature and her deep passion for Japanese animation and art.
From Japan to the N.C. mountains
Krebs grew up in Fukuoka, Japan, where she excelled in music and art as a young girl in elementary school. Krebs’s fascination with foreign movies, music, and language would prove to be pivotal in her life as a young adult.
“My mom liked it too [foreign music], the old ’70s and ’80s music was always playing when she was doing chores,” said Krebs.
In high school, her ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher encouraged Krebs to travel outside of Japan as a foreign exchange student, but she was not able to at that time.
Upon graduating high school, Krebs worked in an accounting office for three years. She saved money, while simultaneously attending English language classes. She was offered an opportunity to study English in Vancouver, Canada, with a host family for two months.
“The first two days I cried because I couldn’t speak English and I didn’t know what the host family was saying to me,” said Krebs. However, she overcame the language barrier and began to make friends with other Japanese students who convened together for classes.
After her two-month stint ended, she decided to travel with a friend to Calgary, Canada, for an additional five months. Krebs went back to Japan and saved as much money as possible in order to travel back to North America.
After two years of work in Japan and one year of English education in Hawaii, Krebs acquired a visa to return to Canada. This time, Krebs landed in Toronto, Canada. She was picked up at the airport by her now-husband, who was living in Buffalo, N.Y., at the time. The couple met online while Krebs was working to return to North America.
Krebs did not use her newly acquired Canadian Visa but rather moved to Niagara Falls, N.Y., where she decided to attend Niagara Falls Community College and study nursing.
“I chose nursing because I like to help people. Even though people don’t always value nurses, that feeling is erased when a patient says ‘thank you’ for your help or gives you a gift,” said Krebs.
Upon graduation, Krebs immediately took a nursing position at a dialysis center. Krebs eventually moved with her husband to North Carolina.
“I grew up in the mountains and in a rural area in Japan, so when we visited here, I liked it,” said Krebs. She worked as a dialysis nurse for 12 years and is now employed as an operating room nurse in Sylva.
Expressing her artistic bent
Krebs’s passion for art can be traced back to the drawings she achieved while attending grade school in Japan. She began to explore her creative passions further when she moved to the United States, initially through the medium of crocheting. Later, she tried wood burning, then sculpting Premo clay, and eventually painting. All the skills she began to acquire were self-learned through books and YouTube videos.
“I’m always interested in learning something new; sometimes I put my hands into too many things,” quipped Krebs.
Although pottery is Krebs’s main focus, that was not always the case.
“I never really liked clay pottery before now. I’ve always wanted to learn stained glass and still do.”
However, Krebs found herself admiring her father-in-law’s antique chinaware collection. She soon began buying pottery pieces at art shows, sparking a desire to learn the art of pottery. Krebs researched local pottery classes and stumbled across Cowee Arts and Heritage School’s Pottery School in Franklin. She began classes in January 2024 and attended class three times a week.
“When I was off of work, I went Saturday and Sunday,” said Krebs. By August 2024, she grasped the basics of pottery – so much so that she voluntarily taught a beginner class on the weekends.
Krebs began outgrowing her classes and decided to build her own studio and kiln house.
“I am the type of person to explore and learn more, quite aggressively and eagerly. I learned a lot [at Cowee Pottery School] but I wanted to learn more.”
Krebs continues her pottery education through online classes and YouTube videos from other trusted artists in the profession.
From beginning to end, she tends to her pottery creations for weeks and even months. The process starts with clay being molded, sculpted, and thrown by hand on a pottery wheel. The formed clay then has to dry naturally, creating a “greenware” state. In this stage, the clay is still semi-malleable.
Pottery is unlike any other art form because each clay dries differently, often dictating when the potter can process the piece to the final stages. During the drying phase, paints can be brushed on and carvings can be etched. Next, a glaze is applied. Krebs makes her own glazes, allowing for unique colors and textures to be seen in each piece.
Making a glaze is very tedious and time consuming, noted Krebs. The right chemistry has to be applied to produce the desired end product. The piece is then sent to the kiln for firing at temperatures as high as 2,000-degrees Fahrenheit. The firing makes the piece harden and durable, while preserving the unique artwork and craftsmanship that is to displayed.
Krebs explained that her pottery designs are inspired by the famous Japanese Soft Animation Filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. Her drawings, engravings, and paintings on her pieces have a whimsical style and colorfulness. She makes a variety of pieces, including bowls, plates, sculptures, mugs, cups, and more.
Krebs’s goal moving forward on her pottery journey is to create an online shop and enter art shows where the public can purchase her pieces. And, because of her love for dogs, she plans for part of her pottery business’s proceeds to go towards local animal rescues.
To follow Krebs’s journey and see her current work, follow her @shiz_gama on Instagram.