Wednesday, November 17, 2010

IT’S ALL IN THE ATTITUDE


Now I realize we all have varying perspectives of what is cool and what is not. Sometimes I think in the sheer act of talking or writing about “cool”, the farther away something is from cool. But when I first saw this Shigaraki mizusashi, all I could think was how “wonky cool” it was.

The attitude of this pot is a wonderful blend of medieval pottery with the zeitgeist of the 1970’s when it was made. The posture of the piece has an animated character to it that is accentuated by the hi-iro coloring, incised makings and balance of the essential elements. Made by Ota Minoru, a veteran potter who specializes in not only Shigaraki, but Hagi and Shino as well, the casual approach to potting and forming that loose, but so appropriate lid, comes from a lifetime of handling clay.

From my viewpoint, that is just a cool pot with plenty of attitude.

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