CERTAINLY NOT POTTERY RELATED

Seeing as how it has been a very long week of sanding, decorating, bisquing and glazing, not to mention I am in an odd mood, I have had this “spoken word” song running through my head for part of the day and thought I would try to pass it along;




It is a catchy tune, which, for me, goes back to the early 90’s and listening to Dr. Demento while we lived in Cleveland. This National Lampoon version is a satire (parody?) of Max Erhmann’s DESIDERATA (1927). Though the National Lampoon version is a great watch or listen, the Desiderata is worth a read for the stark comparison;

DESIDERATA
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

IRIDESCENCE

Though my photographic skills are somewhat lacking (!), every once and a while fate, lighting and timing conspire to get a picture of what I am after. Illustrated is a kushime wan-gata style teabowl with my ame and haiyu glazes over slip. As you can see in the picture, the surface is covered in a halo style iridescence that is subtle under most lighting and by handling the bowl just right, you can see the surface come to life. Being somewhat photographically challenged, it is difficult to convey the surfaces of many of my pots as they are a bit more complex than one would guess at first glace. Luckily, every once in a while a picture comes along that helps convey the depth of the glaze technique.

KEEPING ONES DISTANCE

“Do not make a new form and design from an old pattern, I was always told. Turquoise is one of the oldest colors used in ceramics. It was produced by applying hashokuzai to copper, and copper oxide can still be seen in this type of pottery in the ME (Middle Eastern) countries. We marvel at the new molding and design techniques we have created in the modern age, but often it turns out that similar techniques already existed in the past. Truly original creation is so hard in this age, which is dominated by imitation. This thought is uppermost in my mind as I try to create.”

The above quote is by Mino potter, Kato Kenji (1933-2008) who while working in the tradition of TORUKO-AO (Turkish Blue) clearly understood the necessity to find his own voice and vocabulary in an idiom that would be easy to imitate what had come before. Kato was well trained during his apprenticeship with two Ningen Kokuho; Tomimoto Kenkichi and Kondo Yuzo; his broad abilities are a reflection of both of his masters. Kato worked within the traditional Mino field producing wonderful Shino wares as well as iron rich glazes, iro-e overglaze enameled works and both transparent and opaque Persian blue glazes. By looking at his body of Toroku-ao work, you can see that he kept his distance from simply copying what had gone before. He constantly strove to add something to an age old tradition, making this work his own.

This paddled henko-tsubo is very typical of Kato Kenji’s opaque Toruko-ao works. It stands about 10” tall and has wonderful brushed decoration under his lush and vellum textured glaze. Despite having the appearance of a traditional raqqa style pot, the form and decoration speak of a pot born out of a foreign ideal but distinctly Japanese in execution. Together with Ningen Kokuho, Kato Takuo, Kato Kenji helped extend the Silk Road all the way to the doorstep of Gifu Prefecture out of the past and into the present day.

PRUNUS MUME

Illustrated is a very simple and noble hexagonal mizusashi by Iga potter; Banura Shiro (1941-2001). This mizusashi is presented with two faces that alter the vision of the piece rather dramatically, one with a ceramic lid and the other with a lacquer lid. The simple ash glaze over a fluid underglaze decoration of a plum blossom tree and plum blossoms compliments the form and the varying lids adds to the versatility of the piece. The stark simplicity of the design and hexagonal form was part of Banura’s ongoing investigation into the relationship between pottery and painted design as he sought to add to the modern day Rimpa tradition of pottery. Using Ogata Kenzan as a foundation, Banura, along with several painters who painted on his pottery, had succeeded in adding to a long standing tradition that continues to this day.

SIMPLICITY REVISTED

“Simplicity is the glory of expression.” Walt Whitman

Though I am not sure this quote can apply to my work, illustrated is what I consider a simple serving bowl. The decoration comes about where the bowl was dipped into a secondary glaze and my fingers acted as resist. There are times when it is painfully obvious to me that the bulk of my work is not simple. Sometimes fussy, over decorated or just too busy, but there are times, when the right frame of mind, the right music and the right pot all conspire to simplify what I am doing. I look at this bowl as an example of a simplicity I can reach out for.

ASH CASCADE

Like Nakazato Muan to Karatsu, Arakawa Toyozo to Shino and Miwa Kyusetsu X to Hagi, Ezaki Issei can be considered to be the catalyst of the modern Tokoname tradition. On top of teaching several of modern Tokoname’s potters, Takeuchi Kimiaki and Osako Mikio, Ezaki began to make large scale tsubo and hachi that owed there inspiration to the medieval wares of the region. Using a variety of wood and rice ash glazes he recreated the spirit of ancient Tokoname in his modern work and passed on this ideal to his students and contemporary potters. He is best known for his crisp and insightful forms that used the medieval tradition as a basis, while maintaining a decidedly modern quality to his work.

Illustrated is a medium sized tsubo that has a massive presence because of its solid form with ash cascading down, creating a wonderful sense of movement. The uniquely cut lip of the neck adds to the mystique of a true pioneer potter.

(Illustration used with the permission of a collector)

INCOMING Et Al

After several emails and a couple of phone conversations, it looks like I have another group of pots coming in to find homes for. This time they are from two different collections, but both are parting with the pots for the same reason, refocusing and downsizing the collection. Speaking from personal experience, as a collector, one is always shifting priorities, refocusing on what is of the most interest and needing to part with pots, just because there is a concern for where the heck do you put them all. One collector I know has a very ridgid policy concerning his collecting; “one pot in, one pot out”. It allows him to have a constantly rotating group of pots in a very space conscious environment.

The group that is coming in, or already arrived is as follows;
A stellar Kuro-Raku chawan by Iga & Raku specialist; Konishi Heinai II
Nanban-yaki (Tanegashima) mizusashi by Nakazato Takashi
Museum quality Aka-Shino chawan by living master potter; Hayashi Shotaro
A few other pieces…………

These pieces, and a few others should arrive by the end of next week and hopefully with hit my Trocadero website by Thursday (9/22), please watch for them. Illustrated is the phenomenal, exhibition quality Aka-Shino chawan by Mino tradition master; Hayashi Shotaro.

In other news, with the weekend approaching, we plan various movie nights. I have spent a good portion of my life watching movies of all kinds from the classics, to foreign, to action and everything in between. Being very visually oriented, I consider movies to be an important part of my life. At lunch, my wife suggested a comedy tonight and well, there can only be one answer to that;


For those unfamiliar, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM is a comedy masterpiece with an adundance of action, excellent acting, music, comedic timing and superb direction under the helm of Richard Lester. Lester also is responsible for two other favorites of mine; THE THREE MUSKETEERS and THE FOUR MUSKETEERS. All three movies are worth a watch if you haven’t seen them or haven’t seen them in a while. Can there be any of life’s simpler pleasures that can beat a great movie, an ice cold Sapporo and fresh Pretz, I think not!

IN DUE TIME

Though I am still in the midsts of throwing, tooling, slipping, bisquing and decorating terra cotta, my mind is constantly wandering back to making some stoneware pots. I am likely to be involved with terra cotta through the middle of October, when inventory sheets and orders are near due, but I am anxious to get back to throwing a clay that is more responsive, more forgiving and easier to manipulate than the red pudding I call my terra cotta. In my last stoneware firing, I had a hand full of pots glazed in my new Iron Yellow glaze and I am eager to continue with that surface and have been working on how best to show it off. It is always somewhat frustrating to have recently developed a new glaze and then just take a 6 to 8 week hiatus from it. Any inroads made, start to fad away and lessons learned concerning glaze application begin to dim a bit. Luckily I take good notes and photos along the way to help jog the memory.

In addition to a new glaze, there is a series of glaze tests I want to proof in an actual firing. That gives me the best and most accurate account of the results. What would another firing be without more glaze tests and even a couple of new forms I have been sketching out recently. New forms also dictate having some understanding of how to address the surfaces. This, as any potter knows, can be a bit tricky as what looks great on one pot is simply an eyesore on another. An excellent example of this is copper red. Back at CSU, I tested and made up a large batch of copper red based on a Tom Coleman recipe. This glaze was made up for the students and because it was RED, everyone decided that every pot should be glazed copper red. Though a few students used the red with discretion and fore-thought, the sheer number of inappropriate red pots that came out of the kiln, forced Dick Schneider to put the kibash on the “copper red experiment”. A good thing to, as it was running off most of the pots!

Illustrated is a tall cylindrical vase glazed in my temmoku and iron red glazes. This pot was in the last stoneware firing and is another typical example of the drippy and runny glazes that I am rather fond of. These styles of glazes certainly owe their inspirations from some of the early 20th century glazes of the Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts movements.

CHAWAN SCROLL

Illustrated is a close-up of a kakejiku by legendary potter, Arakawa Toyozo. The scroll depicts a Shino chawan with underglaze iron pigment decoration of a field or village. The prominent kanji on the scroll can read “field” or “village”. This scroll painting in monochrome ink tones is typical of a number of pieces Arakawa painted during his lifetime. Most of this style of painting illustrates historical chawan or other pottery pieces or pots that he made himself. Though this design most likely owes it origin to the Muramachi period (1333-1573) and the monochrome ink painters, Shubun and Sesshu, I am inclined to think this painting is of his own pottery and may have accompanied the chawan it depicts. In fact, this decoration is very much like the sugarcane motif of Hamada Shoji, it appears on a large number of Arakawa’s Shino chawan. I have always admired Arakawa’s paintings and calligraphy in this style, there is a wonderful blend of the lyrical and casual, much the same can be said for much of his pottery as well.


For another look at Arakawa as painter, please take a look at a previous, similar post; http://albedo3studio.blogspot.com/2010/12/arakawa-as-painter.html

AND THE HOLY GRAIL................

Speaking in the colloquial sense, every die-hard collector has his eyes set apon a holy grail object of his collecting field. It doesn’t matter if you are collecting Pez dispensers or Impressionist paintings; collectors have a certain piece that is the ultimate for their collection. Though there can be several penultimate pieces, there can be only one holy grail and it sometimes the search is long and the expense is usually in the realm of sheer insanity. I believe it takes a certain amount of maturity to decide what is or isn’t that piece that will make a collection. From my perspective, what I would have classified as my ultimate 20 years ago, is just not what I would classify as my holy grail today. I had to see a lot of pottery in numerous private and public collections, as well as gallery visits and even trips to Japan, to hit on what was that one thing I held above all others. It should go without saying; this is a very personal and introspective journey.

My decision to write about this comes just days after the third collector in a row acquired their holy grail pot. At the beginning of the summer, a collector friend, who specializes in painted porcelains, happened on a museum quality Imaizumi Imaemon XIII large platter. It is what he was looking for over a decade and is so far above most of his pots that it has set a new standard. The second collector I know went all in on a magnificent Tsukigata Nahiko Oni-Shino chawan that has been published. Like the Imazumi platter, it has set a new standard for the collector and set the bar very high. Lastly, just this week a friend of mine completed some complex negotiations for his holy grail pot, a masterpiece and museum quality Oni-Hagi (Ogre-Hagi) O-buri chawan by Miwa Kyusetsu (now Jyusetsu) most likely made in the late 90’s or early 2000s. Like the previous two pots, it has set a new and nearly impossible standard, leading to questions about his collecting strategy. For some collectors, that I am pleased to know, it has been a good summer for pottery.

Bare in mind, I am a potter and living on a potter’s salary, for most of us, still reaching and searching for that holy grail, the constant hunt and narrow misses are only further compounded by the taunts of others who have secreted away "our” pots. For this, it is necessary to fortify body and spirit and what better way than taking a moment to watch this instructional video;

LASTING IMPRESSIONS

During my decade in Cleveland and numerous trips to NYC and Boston, besides taking the time to look at pottery and Japanese art in the different museums, I would always take time to study the ancient Chinese bronzes. The forms and patinas of the bronzes are fascinating and compelling, but to my eye, the intricate patterns about the surfaces articulate the pieces and bring them to life. The variety of repeat patterns and other designs take hold and create a dialogue between even the most casual viewer and the piece.

In time, I began to create pots so that I could impress articulated pattern around the forms. Carving impression stamps out of clay, the patterns were hit or miss, some worked, some did not. By working with this idea on and off over nearly 10 years, the right forms, impressed designs and glaze or glaze combinations began to make sense. In a way, it was like developing a “standard” to work with this style of pottery. The actual impressed designs were created to be reminiscent of the old Chinese bronzes, Persian design elements and Greek design and fretwork. Besides creating an overall design, it adds to the tactile experience as the design stamps have made a lasting impression on the pot and hopefully the viewer as well.

LABOR DAY

“Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price.”     Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

TSUKIGATA NAHIKO ENSO

A friend of mine recently sent me a picture of his wonderful Tsukigata Nahiko enso tile. Besides being an astute collector, he is very keen on the work of Tsukigata and holds him in the highest regard among modern Mino tradition potters. The illustrated ceramic tile was fired in a wood kiln and it shows all of the characteristics of why Tsukigata is so highly regarded as a renaissance artist of the 20th century. This tile measures approximately 8” x 8” and is mounted in a wood frame that bares all the characteristics of having been made by a carpenter that specializes in tansu. This enso appears to have been created “in the moment”, a spontaneous extension of all of the artist’s experience and creativity. Though it is minimalist in its execution, it is infinite in its impact and statement.

Tsukigata created a number of these ceramic tiles, most of which showcased his very idiosyncratic calligraphy (shoga) style. Besides the enso (円相), there are examples with kanji for hana (flower), shin (heart), yume (dream), wa (peace) and others. There are also a number of his chawan that bare the same technique with bold kanji as decoration that date from about 1970 to 1990.

(Illustration used with the kind permission of a collector)