HAPPY NEW YEAR

I just wanted to take a moment and wish everyone, in each and every time zone, a very Happy New Year.

Illustrated is the aftermath of some spirited pottery debauchery in which the Hagi chawan by Miwa Kyuwa XI was neither stained nor damaged. This photo was staged by a trained professional and I do not recommend you try this at home.

(Photo courtesy of a deranged and somewhat eccentric, private collector.)

SETTLED IN

Illustrated is a  Bizen mizusashi by veteran Bizen potter, Masamune Satoru (d. 2006). The surface is a diaphanous blend of hi-iro and flashed ash deposited on the pot with areas of shadowed resist creating halo like effects. This is another one of those pots who's charm derives from the posture and baring of the piece, it gives one the sense that it is all settled in and just ready to be used. Though high fired, this mizusashi gives the impression that it has a softness to the piece, a product of the rolling curves created when the pot was first thrown and then subjected to the  scrutiny of  the fire.

LAST KILN FOR 2011

I fired off what will most likely be the last firing of 2011, last week. I can't really complain about the results, 99% of the pots came out meeting my expectations or better. The few last minute orders were packed and shipped out, with most arriving in time for the holidays. The kiln had a wide variety of pieces from serving bowls and plates, covered jars, vases and the ever present teabowls and yunomi. 

Illustrated is a  teabowl that has been hanging around for several months. It has white slip with vertical bands of grey and black slip over and I finally decided to glaze it up in the my clear and saffron glazes. I was pleasantly surprised with the results as the glazes created areas of grey-green and blue-black under the saffron surface. The second illustration is of a partridge feather and saffron glazed yunomi with a rather runny surface and the two varying glazes contrast well together. Neither of these where planned out, both just sort of happened as I was rushing to get pots glazed. Sometimes it is the "no-thought" approach that yeilds something new and worth

pursuing.

"The truth of a thing is the feel of it, not the think of it." Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999)

SEASONS GREETINGS

كل عام وأنتم بخير
祝圣诞节快乐
Glædelig Jul og Godt Nytår
Prettige feestdagen
Bula Vinaka
Hyvää Joulua ja Onnellista Uutta Vuotta
Joyeuses fêtes
Frohe Feiertage!
uoo”kZ dh ‘kqÒdkeuk;sa 
Gleðilega hátíð 
Buone Feste
メリー クリスマス
즐거운 연휴 되시길 바랍니다 
 Linksmų švenčių!
God Jul og Godt Nytt År
تبریکات فصلی
 Boas Festas
Crăciun fericit 
Felices fiestas 
Tilokotfo taKhisimisi
God Jul och Gott Nytt År 
I apologize for the myriad of languages I have missed, but the sentiment stands, where ever you are reading this from.

For those so inclined, here is the best rendition of T'WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS as read by Basil Rathbone (1942), it is worth a listen. Don't bother watching the video, just listen to the reading. It is by far my favorite version of this Christmas classic and I have been listening to it for decades.

HIKIDASHI

Up today is another excrutiatingly short video of the hikidashi (pulled out) technique at the Shigaraki anagama of Sawa Kiyotsugu and Sawa Katsunori (seen in the video). Hikidashi is used in Shigaraki to freeze the bidoro glass over the surface of the pot. This is accomplished by the quick cooling once the pot is snatched out of the kiln creating the rich glassy surfaces. Hikidashi is a technique most commonly used in Raku-yaki, Seto-Guro (Hikidashi-Guro) and Shigaraki, though its use is ever expanding to other styles and traditions. Currently there are a number of potters also using the hikidashi technique for Shino; Kumano Kuroemon is at the forefront of that movement which accounts for the wonderful pale jade-green ash surfaces on some of his pots. When all is said and done, there is nothing more exhillerating than pulling a 2300 degree pot out of a fiery kiln to get the heart pumping. It is unlike any other experience in making ceramics.

A CAUTIONARY TALE

It all started with the click of a button, or should I say, it didn't start. At issue is my ongoing battle with technology, which many or us, myself included, have become dependant on. As I set about to start my computer (PC) last week, I pushed the button and nothing happened. Like a bad starter, the computer was simply not going to co-operate. After a series of phone calls, the culprit was diagnosed, the mother board fried and the power supply had simply given up on our aged computer. The "experts" concluded that the repair would far exceed the value of the old PC and buying a new one would simply be smarter and more economical.

At this point, I wasn't too worried, though a bit anxious as I had just last week, backed up my important data to my external hard drive. We went out and bought a new PC tower and set about getting it up and running, when the gliches began to appear. The new PC runs on Windows 7, all our old stone age software is just obsolete, so off to buy new software. At this point, I am still more annoyed than worried. We now set about installing all the necessary software and low and behold, all would seem to be fine. My primary concern at this point is to move all my documents, data and misc. picture files to the new computer, I attach the external hard drive to the new PC and "what to my wondering eyes should appear", well actually, nothing! Since the external HD was a different operating system, there was nothing there, or rather the new refused to acknowledge the old (ain't that the way!). Now I am worried. I have a wide array of articles,hundreds of pages of notes about pottery and paintigs, my blog notes and posts, all of my Trocadero descriptions and pictures and a variety of other data that is irreplacable.

I scramble and make some more phone calls, more like desperate pleas and am told, for a tidy price (per hour) all of my HD data can be retrieved, but it is a techy and tricky process. In the midst of this debacle, we find our way to S-Mart (Shop smart, shop S-Mart) and out of the set-in desperation I feel, I decide to query the electronics guy about my situation. Turns out, he is rather computer literate and tells me, the fix is simple, go to a particular big electronics store and buy a hard drive docking station and provided the HD is fine, you can retrieve all of the data. Off to the electronics store to buy the last eSATA+ USB 2.0 docking station. It is a simple device, with even simpler set-up and as soon as I push the button, the HD whirls and whines to life and our new PC reads it as an external HD. Several hours later, all of my data is retrieved, with a new back up on the original external HD.

I realize for most people, this computer stuff is rudimentary and even rather simple, but for a guy who spends his days working with clay and experimenting with glaze alchemy, this was somewhat daunting to say the least. I wrote this to act as a cautionary tale, when even backing things up routinely isn't always enough. My new back-up regiment will also include burning important documents and files to data dvds once a week as well. I guess at the end of the day, alls well that ends well.

"It is a good thing to learn caution from the misfortune of others." Publilius Syrus (Lived during the First century B.C.)

INTERSECTIONS

"Any intellectually conceived object is always in the past and therefore unreal. Reality is always the moment of vision before the intellectualization takes place. There is no other reality."  Robert Pirsig (b.1928)

Illustrated is a porcelain teabowl with an etched design under my haiyu glaze. The design, though similiar to the "landscapeman" design is in fact based on a drawing on a chalkboard in a scientists office from a 1950's science-fiction movie. The design always reminded me of two solar systems or universe intersecting and the resulting shockwave that occurs when this would happen. It would seem to be a good fit under the flowing and iridescent effects of the haiyu glaze.

SENTINEL

Illustrated is a very large and bold Iga vase by one of my favorite contemporary Iga potters, Kojima Kenji.  Standing sentinel, this is a very gestural piece, though it has a monumental presence and the interaction between clay and fire has created a very evocative surface. Between the rich fire red hi-iro and areas of ash and bidoro, the pot is swept in a variety of changing tones and effects.  Though very decidedly Iga, or possibly Ko-Iga, this vase shows the influences of Bizen pottery, which is where Kojima served his early pottery apprenticeship. I see this in a lot of his earlier works and occassionally, even now, some elements of Bizen-yaki creeps into his pottery. I think at the end of the day, when you are dedicated to producing medieval style works, there will always be some general overlap between many of the ancient Roku-koyo and I think this pot admirably displays the cross currents of the older, medieval wood fired traditions.

"We perceive and are affected by changes too subtle to be described." Henry David Thoreau

YUME (NO) HI

To anyone that frequents my blog, it will come as no surprise that though I love all kinds of pots, I hold a special place for wood fired pottery, particularly Shigaraki and Iga. Through a number of trips to Japan, including a stay in Asanomiya, outside of Shigaraki to study, our base of operations was Kyoto so that we could take a number of day trips to both Shigaraki and Iga to see the pottery and potters there. With treks to visit Kohyama Yasuhisa, Furutani Michio, Honiwa Rakunyu, Tani Seiemon, Takahashi Rakusai and Shunsai, Otani Shiro and others, my exposure to wood fired pottery cemented itself above all others.

Among my favorite contemporary Iga and Shigaraki potters is Kishimoto Kennin (b. 1934). Kishimoto is truly one of the renaissance potters who has specialized in very controlled and exacting Iga firings for many years. In addition to his Iga wares, Kishimoto has worked and mastered a wide array of pottery styles, including; Oribe, Iga-Oribe, Shino, Ki-Seto, celadon and several others. Having first started working in the early 1950’s, he has had a number of years to study and perfect each style along the way, though his kannyu celadon and Iga works are among his best in my opinion. From my perspective, his celadon and Iga pots rarely disappoint and each one unique in its presentation, they all have something rather profound to say.

Illustrated is a large and generous Iga chawan by Kishimoto Kennin. The way in which the form is articulated, mimics the contours of the lip creating an inviting and gestural bowl that truly begs to be handled. The form together with the blend of ash and hi-iro is the paint the canvas needed to complete the chawan. One of Kishimoto’s real talents is creating pots and masterfully firing which animates the keshiki, landscape of the pot to best highlight the form and the marks of the potter. Kishimoto Kennin is a potter who very skillfully paints with fire.

You can see more pictures of this chawan here;
http://www.trocadero.com/albedo3studio/items/1116136/item1116136store.html#item

SOUNDTRACK

It is a rather busy day of packing, shipping and misc. running around today, so I thought I would share this iconic, cultural nugget from 1983; SONG FOR A FUTURE GENERATION by the B-52s. If you are a fan of 80s music, it doesn’t get any better than this and on a personal note, I have made more pots to the B-52s than possibly any other music I can think of, it is my soundtrack to making pottery. I know, how does that speak to my character?



Enjoy!

A FLARE FOR THE DRAMATIC

Just recently, I was fortunate to be able to study a wonderful tsubo by Tokoname legendary potter, Osako Mikio (1940-1995). This tsubo was truly the embodiment of the medieval tradition of Tokoname and was the epitome of simplicity, strength and grace. Osako Mikio, together with his teacher, Ezaki Issei and fellow student, Takeuchi Kimiaki, ushered in a rebirth of medieval Tokoname styled pottery, re-establishing the idiom and tradition. The trio borrowed from the past to re-establish a contemporary Tokoname, the oldest of the 6 ancient kiln sites, Roku-koyo

Using cues from old Sueki wares, Sanage-yaki (glazed medieval pottery) and the yakishime pottery fired in large O-gama which fired to 1300 degrees c., Osako carved out a vital niche in Tokoname pottery. He arrived at ceramics late in life, starting to study with Ezaki Issei at the Tokonmane ceramic Research Center in 1968 and staying with his teacher until he built his first kiln in 1982. Known for his yakishime and ash glazed pottery, Osako won a number of prestigious awards including including first prize at the International Ceramics Exhibition in Vallauris.

Osako Mikio, who came late to ceramics, left well too soon at 55 years of age. His profound understanding of wood firing, post firing and pottery in general was exceptional and his forms and surfaces are mature beyond his years of experience. A fitting quote by Dr. Frederick Baekeland from the catalogue; MODERN JAPANESE CERAMICS IN AMERICAN COLLECTIONS, sums up the true nature of the potter and his pots; “The strong, conventional potting and rich sobriety of Osako’s ceramics appeal to the modern taste and accords well with the aesthetic canons of the tea ceremony.”

Illustrated is a meihin (masterpiece) tsubo by Osako Mikio made in 1982, the year he built his anagama and won the Vallauris prize. It borrows strongly from the ancient Sueki pottery found in Tokoname and has a spectacular ash surface composed of both applied ash and natural ash (shizen) that formed while the pot was wood fired in a Tokoname style anagama kiln. The fullness of the pot, culminating in the wide, flared neck puts me in mind to one of those timeless pots, born of the medieval tradition, yet executed in the modern day. Measuring about 12” x 14”, it is a pot of nobility and purpose and among the finest pots by Osako Mikio, I have ever seen


(Courtesy of a private collector)

HOPELESSLY INFLUENCED

Ever so often I think back to all those years in front of the TV looking for forms to “recreate”. One of the shows that was a constant influence was the genie’s bottle from I DREAM OF JEANNIE (1965-1970). It has a definte graceful form and scale and the fact that Barbara Eden lived inside, didn’t hurt my recollection of the bottle either. Since I began making pottery, the genie bottle has worked its way into my vocabulary of forms, from the near identical copy to bottles loosely based on the idea.

Illustrated is a recent genie’s bottle form, about 13” tall with a series of rings around the form and decorated in my temmoku and medieval green glazes. Where the sharp angles are created, the glaze pools around the mouth and body forming think green glass, very much like bidoro. As far as my pottery goes, quite a bit of my work is hopelessly influenced by television and movies with a keen interest in turning the 2-dimensional images into 3-D reality.

ROZOME

It has been a while since I have worked in the style I refer to as rozome. I tend to go off with something new and many times, forget the established style until an order, inquiry or commission comes my way. Now for those wondering why I use the term rozome, mostly associated with wax resisted fabrics that was actually where the idea came from many years back while strolling the streets of Kyoto. We saw an exhibit and demonstration of rozome and I was immediately drawn to the directness and immediacy of the process. The actual term for wax resist on ceramics is ronuki, of which Kawai Kanjiro was the undisputed master of the 20th century. The other reason I have stuck with the term rozome is that once the wax is applied, the “background” color is then applied, much the way in which I work; this is applied to the raw clay with slips and wax allowing the heat of the bique kiln to remove the wax. I know the same can be said for ronuki as well. In the end, toe-may-toes, toe-mah-toes.

Illustrated is a stoneware rozome influenced jar and shallow wall bowl both with spirali e tagli designs under my medieval green glaze.