MEMORY LANE

Recently I was involved in a discussion regarding the potters Hori Ichiro and Yamada Kazu revolving around how they worked and the wellspring of their inspiration. Quite naturally the conversation was steered toward the Enbu-Shino work of Yamada Kazu and the origins and technology of the glaze and it brought me back to a stellar chawan only recently made in that style that I had handled back in 2012. This Enbu-Shino chawan came from a collector that had decided to part with his collection so he sent it to me and I was able to handle it for several weeks as well as take quite a few photos of the piece from just about every conceivable angle. My initial take away from handling the chawan was the raw energy transferred from the fire, trapped in the surface and the tension created, over time that impression has lasted and I still have that same sense, I see a lyrical, almost abstract presence painted on the surface. From my perspective, this style is another in a long line of potters, especially in modern times, pushing the clay, glaze and firing to find where the limits really are and as a by-product of this experimentation often wondrous results unfold. No matter how you interpret Yamada's Enbu-Shino, it is certain to leave an impression and spark a conversation.

The following is a part of the description that I used when it was put up for sale on Trocadero; "Powerful, dramatic, enigmatic, there is a nearly unending number of descriptions that would still all fall short in describing this large Enbu-Shino chawan by Yamada Kazu. Enbu literally means "dancing fire" and it is that dancing fire that pushed the clay and glaze of this chawan to the very limit where the glaze turned to molten glass and began to flow like lava down the sides and into the interior of this pot. But pushing the limit is nothing new for Yamada Kazu who has broke new ground in his pursuit of Shino, Oribe, Ki-Seto, Seto-Guro and even Shigaraki pottery."