Toshiko Takaezu’s hand-built moons each have a “stance,” a little lean, a part of their building process that you don’t find in the wheel-thrown work, and I love that about them. When I was her apprentice, Toshiko was in her 80s, and I particularly enjoyed helping her make these slab-formed moons—perhaps it was the occasion I could be closest to her creative process, working around the plaster slump molds, knitting the leather-hard clay sections together … This moon is a great example of her hand-built work, a marriage of simplicity, intuition, and beauty.