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Deishi Shibuya, Hagi, Japan
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One of my closest friends, Jeff Yordy, passed away in 2014. He was a widely admired horticulture teacher at the school where we both worked. Curious and inquisitive he always expressed delight whenever he discovered something new or unusual.
In the last years of his life he developed a singular passion for ceramics. During his free periods Jeff could be found in the ceramics studio working with clay and various glazes and engaging with his friend and mentor Kurt Webb (whose extraordinary ceramic pieces and woodcut prints can be seen here).


Not long before he died Jeff was placed on a waiting list for a heart transplant. He told me that once he got his new heart he wanted to fly to Japan and meet the revered ceramics master Deishi Shibuya whose work Jeff greatly admired. I said I would join him.


Jeff never made it to Japan, but I did. Kurt showed me a simple, unfinished bowl Jeff had been working on before he died. The bowl needed to be glazed and fired. At Kurt's encouragement, I flew to Japan with the bowl and arranged a meeting with Deishi-san at his Hagi studio.
Speaking through a translator I asked Deishi-san if he would complete Jeff's unfinished work. He nodded yes, he would.
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Two months later, Deishi Shibuya presented me with Jeff's bowl, finished in a beautiful glaze, and fired in the master's kiln in Hagi.