MENTORI

I wrote about Kohyama Yasuhisa last week and thought to show a piece by him that exhibits the classic characteristics of his works. This mentori, faceted “object” is about 12” tall if my memory serves me well and the front and back show very different styles of his mentori techniques. The rear has two angled planes that were very deliberately faceted by pulling down a wire with a rocking motion on each. The front shows his classic tool drag down the middle of the face of the pot which creates a very tense point of attraction to the piece.

Though the piece appears to be charcoal grey in color, it actually has a soft, off green appearance of ash that wets the surface in some areas together with coloration created by his sueki style firing and the pots having charcoal beds built up around them. This piece was made in the early 90’s and shows a style that has pushed beyond Shigaraki traditional pottery to add to the lexicon of anagama fired possibilities in the Valley.