Wednesday, November 6, 2013

GAMEDAY


After my post of the Kimura "cubist" henko, I was asked about the so-called football style henko. First off, the football moniker is entirely mine and it is how I see the piece from the perspective of viewing it straight on. Illustrated is one of these molded football pots that I handled a number of years ago. Once the pot came out of the plaster press mold, it was dipped in slip and once bisque, it was glazed in a transparent ash clear glaze with a rich kaki accent on the mouth and decorations of amber spots with copper squiggles over the whole in an Okinawan (Tsuboya )style. The pot looks very dated as it appears having been made sometime in the late 1950's or 1960's, but when used as a vase, it takes on an entirely different appearance. Ultimately, it is the simplicity of design and decoration and a dependence on the Mashiko tradition that makes exploring the works of Kimura Ichiro so enjoyable.