TORNADO IN A TEACUP

Given the weather in our region and elsewhere recently, including some severe flooding through Herkimer County today, I though a somewhat weather related post a bit apropos. Illustrated is a teacup loosely based on the funnel like structure of a tornado thrown in porcelain. This cup and saucer were glazed in Shino and ash and during the firing areas of the piece manifested some rich, black to dusty grey carbon trapping. Having seen a tornado in person in Cleveland, Ohio of all places, the form became of interest to me and over the years I have made a variety of "tornado-ware" including; cups, mugs, pitchers and covered jars in a wide variety of glazes as well as wood, salt and soda fired. The saucer was thrown off the hump and just a bit wonky to try to best match the attitude of the cup, sort of like a hubcap that had been through the effects of a tornado.

"Nature creates ability, luck provides it with opportunity."  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

VARYING APPROACHES

Once upon a time, way back in the 90’s, I was asked to be part of a teapot show, THE TEA PARTY at a Cleveland gallery, now defunct. This allowed me to try out some new forms I was working on, so I made a large black & white slipware tray, cream and sugar, teapot and teacups. In fact, I made 3 full tea sets, one in slipware, one in carved slip and the other in my abstract resist, all three sets finding new homes. Opening night for the Tea Party, what was immediately obvious was how different the participants approach to the same basic idea was. Besides myself, the potters included; Tom Turner, Gail Russell, Bonnie Gordon, Moira Beale and Bob Yost. The range was great from low fire to high fire, porcelain, stoneware and terra cotta, thrown, hand-built and cast. Each person brought their unique skill sets, their personal originality to the “tea table” and the show was all the richer for it.

Before the show, I was familiar with the work of Akron artist, Bob Yost, but when he brought his uniquely hand-built and gas fired pots to the show, I was struck by his approach to clay. The pots were seamed, rolled, folded and quickly assembled reminding me of the old cardboard cut and fold projects. There is a spirited directness and purposeful insight into his pots and the forms are simple, yet animated and filled with personality. His method of glazing only enhanced his directness with clay and his choice of glazes was spot on and allowed the bare clay to be as much as the decoration as is the glazed areas. Illustrated is a teapot and matching cups, hand-built with a carbon trapping feldspar glaze over stoneware. The set is fully functional and wonderfully thought out for use and based on the form, the teapot seems to be in perpetual motion. All in all, a fully functional set that can only add to the experience of anyone’s tea time.

"Originality is nothing but judicious imitation."  Voltaire  (Francois-Marie d'Arouet 1694-1778)

SHIZENYU II

Looking into the interior of some wood fired pots, is like looking into one of the many wonders of the world, albeit, manmade and that is what makes it even more special. For many chawan, the interior becomes the receptacle for natural ash that is flying around the kiln and needs somewhere to land and the rear wall of the bowl acts as a trap in which the ash is caught, builds up and melts into varying hues and thicknesses of glass creating what is known as shizenyu. In this chawan, though most of the entire chawan is covered in glassy ash, the interior speaks about the build up on the walls and the inevitable running into the center of the pot creating a rich, deep olive green bidoro pool. Immediately adjacent to the pool is a slightly lighter region where liquid glaze dripped off the underside of the shelf about the teabowl creating a wonderful effect and adding to the buildup of glass in the mikomi. Be design, innate experience or serendipity, this Iga chawan by Furutani Michio heralds the richness and phenomenal firings that he was so well known for and is still held in great regard by potters and collectors around the world. There are few Shigaraki and Iga potters whose works show such a mastery of clay and flame as did Furutani Michio and this chawan is just another example of both.

DEPRESSING

In the last firing I decided to try to create some pieces that would take advantage of the boiling and turbulent effect created when the Oribe glaze runs into itself and is overloaded with oxide. To that end, one piece, a lid for a jar, was tooled specifically to create a slight depression that would act as a pool for glaze which would run off the large ring knob and back in from the edges. It worked rather well and created a stark contrast from the majority of the pot, where the glaze is a rich, but more monochrome style Oribe glaze. The pooling area is filled with a variety of currents and flows, especially from off the knob where the flow is trying to escape the general outcome of gravity in broad swirls that collide with the glaze incoming from the higher areas of the lid. It reminds me of fancy marbled papers that line the interior of book covers and certainly breaks up the surface of the glaze to rich effect. Though at this point I can encourage the reactions and even affect some visual changes, it is not exactly controllable and if it were, were would the fun be in that?

DETAIL ORIENTED II

Illustrated is a close-up detail of the interior of an Ono Hakuko chawan. The bowl is covered over in a rich and deep Persian blue style glaze that is further complicated by a network of tiny crazes about the surface which gives the pot even more depth and is nearly impossible to gauge the age of the piece. The cut gold leaf foil creates an evocative star-burst pattern on the bowls interior and the specks that you see on the glaze surface is not some defect, but rather tiny bits of gold that have risen to the surface from the foil below. In the right light they sparkle and reflect golden tones and remind one of distant stars in a rich azurite blue sky at dusk.

Though the kinsai, underglaze gold technique originated in China and was used by the pioneering talent, Kato Hajime, Ono studied and perfected this technique while thoroughly making it her own and a signature style. Using cut solid gold leaf foil, she created a number of abstract and geometric pattern as well as more organic and flowing designs based on nature all the while being ever thoughtful of creating a fitting harmony between the form, decoration and glaze. This particular chawan is an excellent example of her marriage of design and form with the sun-burst pattern seemingly radiating outward from the center as well as crashing back into the interior which creates a wonderful sense of constant, even dynamic movement.

TAKI

I finally got the kiln fired on Friday and was able to unload by late Saturday afternoon. The results were mostly good with a few pieces just not making the grade, but that is to be expected. The two altered and paddled vases made it through the firing and each has something different to say. The larger of the two came out mostly a tempered green with hints of browns and greens intermixed. The smaller vase came out with a wider array of surface effects from rich green areas where the glaze pooled to running waterfalls (taki) at the lugs where the glaze built up and flowed down freely in a cascade of varying hues. I am constantly amazed at what can be done with Oribe style glazes and copper in particular and each and every firing adds another chapter to the mystery of possibilities, not only about the surfaces but what one person can make with nothing more than a lump of wet clay, a handful of different powders and a little heat.

"It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit."  Antoine Rivarol (1753-1801)

WIND & RAIN

It has been a rainy and overcast week here which started on Monday with me firing a large group of bisque. With all this wind and rain it has been hard keeping motivated to start the glazing process though the temperatures are a bit cooler making it easier to work. I started out by making up several glazes to top off my buckets and set about prep glazing and waxing off feet, jar mouths and misc., by Thursday, I had everything glazed up and ready to load in the kiln. Loading ended up being a bear as it was an exceptionally tight fit in the bisque and now glazed, just as tight. I had taken a photo of the bisque kiln prior to unloading and that helped piece the puzzle back together and get everything that came out, back in again. Now that all that is out of the way, of course the weather changes with beautiful blue skies and a cool breeze moving in as I am firing the kiln. The firing should be done by this early evening and hopefully by Saturday late afternoon, after waiting somewhat patiently, I should know how things went. I simply have no patience for patience.

In the meantime, here is some WIND & RAIN from one of my favorite Shakespeare film adaptations, TWELFTH NIGHT;

BIZEN BUNRIN

Illustrated is a classical and quintessential Bizen bunrin style chaire by Ningen Kokuho; Yamamoto Toshu (1906-1994). This rounded, small apple form chaire is a wonderful example of what Yamamoto is so well known for and highly regarded. This chaire is typical of his work, with vivid flowing tamadare ash running down the face of the piece. In fact, many of Yamamoto's pots are immediately recognizable because of his particular and unique style of firing as well as his use of simple, honest forms of which this noble bunrin chaire is a great example. Yamamoto decided to apprentice under Kusube Yaichi later in life which may explain his attention to detail in form and line which was first rewarded with Prefectural Intangible Property in 1954 and then with Juyo Mukei Bunkazai in 1987. Yamamoto Toshu like a small handful of other potters, was able to carve out a niche within the Bizen pottery and add an eloquent and thoughtful voice to a tradition that has a long and varied history.

"Eloquence is logic on fire." Lyman Beecher (1775-1863)

BBC INTERLUDE

Interlude; An intervening episode, feature or period of time.

I am curious, when was the last time you turned on the TV and there was an interlude between shows showing someone throwing pottery and the movie GHOST doesn't count? It would seem, at least when this film was produced and aired, pottery was a valued, respected and interesting craft that was thought to appeal to a wide audience beyond just pottery collectors. I really admire that and think that there should be more such films and videos shared on TV as well as the internet. Documenting and sharing any and all craft is of vital importance to interest the young, stimulate emerging crafts people and to help awaken the general population to the beauty and purposeful utility of pottery and any number of other crafts. Thanks to the BBC and Youtube, enjoy this video.

"Nothing can have value without being an object of utility." Karl Marx (1818-1883)

 

FEUDAL VASE

Created using the coil and throw method, this prototypical  Shigaraki kinuta mallet vase was made by the legendary potter, Furutani Michio. There is something so elementally medieval about many of his pots and the well proportioned form speaks of a time and place outside of this instant. Blending exceptional clay and woods for his firings, Furutani Michio created works well beyond technique that speak to the viewer on a wide array of levels and connect us to the pot, the potter, a tradition and a way of making and living with pots, then and now. It may just be this intense connectivity that attracts me so strongly with his work along with the unending dialogue the pot maintains and the dedication and spirit of a feudal tradition that define his pottery both Shigaraki and Iga.

"If one really wishes to be a master of an art, technical knowledge is not enough. One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an 'artless art' growing out of the Unconscious." D.T. Suzuki (1870-1966)

INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO...

As a kid, I was always excited to get Cracker Jacks or some cereal with a surprise in it. It took all my self-control to keep from just dumping out the contents to get to that surprise, I always thought I liked surprises. Segue to making clay and lots of it at both Plattsburgh State and Cleveland State, tons and tons of it and over the years, in its making and using, it yielded a wide bounty of surprises as well. The surprises found in the slaked and pugged clay included, but was not limited to; glasses, sunglasses, pens, pencils, watches, jewelry of all sorts including silver and gold, 2 engagement rings, a full 1 ct diamond on a gold chain, numerous gold and silver chains, earrings of every shape and size, including also diamonds, broken bisque, rulers, all kinds of pottery tools, a pair of pliers, several smaller screwdrivers, sponges galore, coins, paper money, a pack of cigarettes, a birth certificate (!) and a number of other surprises. By far, the most surprising was when I wedged an xacto blade into my palm which had to be removed with pliers, required antibiotics and a time out from throwing.

That particular incident taught me a rather valuable lesson and though I use commercially prepared clay today, I set about slicing the block into 1/4" slabs prior to wedging it up, hoping to intercept anything that may be in the clay. Up until last week, the only things I had found were the occasional cigarette butt, small, very small stones and the odd piece of shale now and again; that was up until last week. Last week, while slicing up clay, I came across the unidentified object in the photo. Given its size and the fact that it is some form of twisted, stiff metal, I am sure it would have caused quite the injury had I wedged it into my hand. Though it has been a number of years since finding anything quite like this in my clay, I am certainly glad I am a creature of habit and learned an unwavering lesson from all those years ago from a simple xacto blade and the myriad of other clay surprises.