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PW: Going back really quickly to the ceramics, I wanted to ask you this this one question. So I have a very distinct memory of you selling the ceramics and such at the Fresno Bazaar.

RO: Absolutely.

PW: So tell me about the Fresno Bazaar, because not very many people remember it.

RO: No, because what was was that... and we had, our dentist used to go and work there and handle the cooking. There was a collection of people who did the cooking. But they also, they had a section for handmade items made by other Japanese Americans. So then I don't know if I asked, or how I became connected, but then I asked if I can show my wares, and they said, "Yeah, absolutely." And also, Matsumoto was going to sell books there, too. So then we were in a side by side. So I became closer to him knowing that we can spend that time together. So yeah, I started selling wares there. And I think it was the chance, then, to... because there were very few Japanese American potters around, there was a fellow in Sanger, I guess it was in Sanger, who was making pots as an individual potter. I don't think he had any outlet for what he was doing. So anyway, this was a chance for all these people to come in and see work they had not seen before. And the work had transitioned into very traditional Japanese ware that you would use every day, and I wanted to do that, but done by a Fresno potter. And then at the same time, I wanted to show work that was done in these workshops with a wood burning kiln. So there were people that were saying, "Oh, yeah." A lot of younger Japanese Americans did not understand the transformation of what happens to that. But then they wanted to collected and have pieces that I had made. So, yeah, I did that as often as I could and as long as I was a potter.

PW: Where was it held?

RO: It was held at the church in the back of the, what's the building that's called a community center or something? That's what it was used for.

PW: And it went for several decades, right?

RO: Yeah.

PW: Started in the '70s, but you're talking about Mas Matsumoto selling books, but that must have been in the '80s?

RO: Yeah, right.

PW: So it was something organized by the church and it was a fundraiser?

RO: Right, right. Fundraiser, and also then...

PW: Eventually...

RO: Yeah, and then eventually, of course, this happened at the new church, it's very different there today.

PW: Was there ever any crossover between your work and ikebana in Fresno?

RO: Only because Sandy became very, very involved in that part of the culture, and she was then taking classes and got to know people, the Ikebana Society, meeting these other Japanese Americans that were doing these kinds of work. So she became very, very involved, because even she was working in a florist when she was going to Berkeley, so she's had this little connection between arrangements and flowers and organic things and so on. So she started to do that and then became very, very involved in that. And then the connection that was happening with the Hanford museum.

PW: The art museum? Yeah, I remember. Which is now closed. It was the collector who collected Japanese artwork.

RO: Collected, absolutely.

PW: That was an extraordinary collection.

RO: It was wonderful.

PW: In the middle of the walnut groves, right?

RO: Uh-huh.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.