M3 III

Illustrated is another entry partially created by AI of a rather classical Sansai  (sancai) style mizusashi by Kato Kiyokazu (Kato Seizan II). The first pot I ever saw by this potter was a similar squared mizusashi with a sansai surface articulated with incised potters’ marks and punctuated by added device around the form. Based or influenced on some Chinese archetype or another this pot has a profound sense of form and volume just waiting to be explored with the simple removal of the lid. The well-conceived balance between form, marks and the flowing rich surface all point to an object that would easily be at home in a museum case showing off movement toward a distinctly Japanese aesthetic while not quite abandoning its Chinese roots.     

The truth is that many modern Japanese traditions and movements rely on their Chinese or Korean origins and this Sansai mizusashi is no exception. Beyond the tri-colored pottery, Kato works with hakuji, temmoku and ransai where his meticulous throwing and craftsmanship can not escape scrutiny of the viewer and where near perfection is called for. I chose this “sansai hana-mizusashi” as a classical and highest quality object by Kato Kiyokazu to reside in my Museum mentis meae where the nobility, tradition, history and aesthetics all come together in a clear vision where the viewer may leave the object behind but the conversation is likely far from over.  

“I want to establish a form of aesthetic beauty that blends a soft gentle atmosphere with a sharp, focused sense of tension.”  Kato Kiyokazu

(*This picture contains an actual image of a pot or pots in an AI generated background or scenario)

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

It is kind of an odd idea to be making snowberry designs as it is beginning to look like spring has sprung, even in central New York. Illustrated is a larger bisque terra cotta pasta bowl complete with black and white slip and sgraffito design, the basis of snowberry(s). The form and design are pretty straight forward, even simple if the throwing of terra cotta isn’t easy to define that way. After all these years, I am usually okay with the results but there has never been a more textbook definition of love/ hate than my relationship with the red menace, terra cotta. I probably have Dick and Patty to thank for that!  

IDEAL

I’ll start out by saying this is neither my photo or my pot, rather this Okabe Mineo oribe chawan was exhibited in the traveling exhibition, JAPANESE CERAMICS TODAY (1983), ceramics from the Madame Kikuchi collection. I have handled over a half dozen chawan by Okabe Mineo and seen ten times that many in illustrations but this chawan has stood as my ideal of 20^th century Oribe all these years. The simplicity and directness of the form, the throwing marks and spatula work all articulate this chawan under its evocative green surface where time is suspended and the old and the new are to my eye, undistinguishable. I was fortunate to see this chawan in person and since that encounter there are times when I wish I had not as it is precisely this chawan and the LIVING NATIONAL TREASURES OF JAPAN exhibition that flipped a switch and set me on this inescapable path of modern Japanese ceramics. Sorry for these poor photos but I think everyone interested in Japanese pottery needs to see this at least once in a lifetime. 

 

I almost forgot to mention, I was completely sold at the kodai!

 

NUDGE

Brilliantly animated beaked pouring vessel by Minnesota potter, Jeff Oestreich. The pot is composed of rather simple pieces-parts to create a wonderfully conversant functional pot that is so much more than that. The elements of the pot work well with the wax resisted decoration and glaze all finalized as a result of a soda firing all the way back in the early 1990s. Having had the opportunity to study with and act as a studio assistant back at Haystack, watching Jeff work, his concentration, meticulous technique and ability to nudge the clay into unique and compelling forms was quite a treat with this pot being quite the little treasure. Having had and cared for this pot for almost three decades, on numerous occasions it was pressed into service and works like a champ where in its use, once washed again and set away to dry, the piece glistens in its momentary wetness adding yet another pleasurable feature to its arsenal of appeal. By sheer fortune, years after acquiring this pot, a mate came along, almost the same exact shape and size but with a differing decoration but that will have to wait for another day. In this case one is enough but where one is good, two is surely better.

SOME MOVEMENT (FROM THE PAST)

In trying to sort out a ton of files and videos, I happened across this video of an older mentori and stamped Oribe style teabowl that I made in 2023 (?). I thought this was a rather simple bowl; simple form, simple and direct faceting, periodic stamp placement and the bare minimum for my Oribe glaze, only two glazes instead of five. I think the video conveys some of the volume and some movement (from the past). 

SHIMMERING GEOMETRY

Illustrated is a well thrown yuri-hakkin-sai hanaire with very pleasant proportions and measuring just about a shaku in height. Made by Furukawa Toshio most likely in the late 1980s or early 1990, this glaze and the geometric patterning is typical of his work where he cut shapes from platinum foil and then using sgraffito he animated the surface. In this particular case, Furukawa relied on a much more geometric design, less organic than some of his pieces where thin columns of foil give way to large rectangular devices where the form reaches its fullest volume. The vase is further divided into six distinct segments into which the repeating patterns are applied and carried out creating distinct fields of shimmering geometry.       

Expanding on his seiji and seihakuji techniques, Furukawa Toshio created quite a few of this yuri-hakkin-sai style work, many of which ended up being featured in national exhibitions across Japan. Like with his celadon works, Furukawa used this glaze/ foil technique on a wide array of forms and sizes ranging from guinomi and koro all the way up to large tsubo and rather expansive hachi. This vase is just one of a myriad of pieces that harken back to the works of Ono hakuko, Kato Hajime and the older Chinese wares from which this technique sprung but it is a fitting addition to an idea and ideal that has become almost synonymous with Japanese potters of the Showa through Heisei eras and now beyond.          

On a personal note, given the chance, seeing Furukawa’s yuri-hakkin-sai work in the sunlight is in my opinion the very best way to look the view away in one’s memory.

ROTATION

I realize that I put up a post on this chawan quite some while back but this was up for rotation and I decided to have a bit of photographic fun with it before just letting it hit the shelf and start to collect dust. The previous post, entitled, HIER EN DAR revolved around how differently a pot looks between varying photos and light sources, one being taken in situ and the other coming from an exhibition catalogue. Though a new post, you can see that I did decide to stay on topic, referencing photography as I decided to pull out a number of Hollywood style backdrops for this bowl since the past couple of days have been quite dreary, downtown days*.      

Illustrated is another photo of a rather dramatic and bold Iga chawan by Kishimoto Kennin. Using a photo of a half-moon that I took a long while back, I created this image without the aid of any photo manipulation or AI, just old fashion 1950s technicolor technology. I choose this moon image because as with most wood fired chawan, the front and back usually have different landscapes, in this case, the from is juicy and wet and the back is drier ash and hi-iro but the textures of both images seemed to work well to my eye at least. Having the chawan in hand, I also find it quite interesting how it affects my mood more so as the sun goes down allowing the bowl to “dance by the light of the moon”, balancing skillfully, exuberance and a sense of impermanence. It may sound overly sentimental but I am struck by the solemnity and moodiness of this chawan; was it intentional, baked in or is it just me?

(* A B-52s reference and homage to Quiche Lorraine)

RELUCTANT II

So, this is where the “magic” happens or at least begins and I think it is pretty clear from this photo what meticulous planning, measuring and precision goes into my hand-built pieces. This photo is of slabs for an order, a simple 16” or so tall vase, carved and to be glazed in my saffron glaze provided it survives my brutal and speedy process for construction devoid of any patience and less tolerance for perfect lines and exact dimensions. Rolled out of stoneware clay, the pieces are clearly marked for what is the interior of each side, so I bevel the right edges, the top and bottom and the solitary slab used to construct the neck/ mouth making this project entirely built out of slabs. Normally many of my hand-built pieces are a marriage of slabs with some hand-thrown addition for the neck and mouth but in this case the body and neck are to echo each other in form so throwing was out. 

These slabs are all quite wet and once a bit drier, the forms will be addressed closer to how they should look and the edges, the sides will have a bevel created and then scored for better assembly. I think I have repeatedly made it clear I am not much of a hand-builder, always reluctant to move in that directions but there are always those times when what I see in my head and want in three dimensions defies throwing, no matter how much you rely on the concept of T&A (thrown and altered) and that is exactly what is staring me in the face this time around.

EGGPLANT, REALLY?

 

Illustrated is another chawan by Kimura Morinobu and like most of his glazes, the base of this surface revolves around ash. What makes this perhaps a bit less like other ash glazes by Morinobu, apparently (?) this surface is based on eggplant ash, eggplant (なすび), really? The hakogaki reads, Nasubi-yu, eggplant glaze and I have seen about a dozen of his pots in this glaze surface ranging from guinomi, hanaire and of course several chawan. Though very simple and direct, this chawan has a wonderful fullness to the form, broad and full of volume coupled with this evocative surface that just reminds me of the Kyoto aesthetic where there is a mixture of nature and nobility written into the bowl. The serene landscape is interrupted by the iron peaking out of the lip and from the marks on the bowl meant to break up the continuity of the piece.       

As a bonus, this nasubi glazed chawan is also exhibited in a Mitsukoshi show from Heisei 14 (2002) and illustrated in the accompanying catalogue. Photo can be seen as an inset at the far right-hand corner. It is always interesting to see and handle illustrated pots as in general it makes me think that the piece is either above average or quintessentially classic in its presentation. Either way, this quiet nasubi-yu chawan is yet another pleasant encounter with Kimura Morinobu where I look forward to the next meeting with pottery that continues to define the simple and complex.

M3 #2

It will likely come as no surprise that I have chosen a pot by Tsukigata Nahiko as my second entry into my museum mentis meae and hopefully my explanation will excuse my personal bias toward the potter. The placement of this mizusashi in an uncluttered, display case gives a visual depth to the pot which as with many pictures, pots can suffer from their intentional austerity or their clutter of every day displays. This simple form was classically employed by Tsukigata Nahiko over the breath of his career, examples date back to the late 1960s and early 70s and run at least until 2001, the last “datable” mizusashi I have encountered of this shape. In defense of my choice, I should also mention that there are two mizusashi that are similar in style to this piece at the Tsukigata Daitobu Museum, one with a ceramic lid and one with a lacquer lid. This particular piece belonged to an advanced collector who shared my interest in the potter where it commingled with a wide array of pottery by mostly Ningen Kokuho and certainly, in my opinion held its own.         

Depicted in my mind’s museum with the help of AI*, this mizusashi is a classic representation and even near perfection of but one of the many specific types of Oni-Shino, the surface is clear, active and even luminescent with areas of ash built up around the entire form and appearing like a tamadare style waterfall cascade at the very front of the form. Among this avenue of Oni-Shino, there is a singularity of nobility present in this pot which Tsukigata choose to name, “Snowy Egret”. With the name, it clearly echoes the regal and naturalistic qualities and there are few better examples where form, surface, firing and concept all have pulled together through experience and serendipity to create a museum level work. As you look beyond the depth of this complex surface, the bones of the pot are pure functional simplicity, cloaked in a lyrical and contemplative visual narration of fire and a coalesced landscape present a near perfect object for the ritual of tea ceremony. In the end, I choose this mizusashi for my museum because of its sustained nobility and its classic character and characteristics of Tsukigata Nahiko, qualities the best pots exude and many pots and potters should aspire to.

“To appreciate the noble is a gain which can never be torn from us.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

(*This picture contains an actual image of a pot or pots in an AI generated background or scenario)