ANTI-Q

A friend sent me this picture recently and at first glance it looked like an antique Seto pot, turn of the century or a bit older, until I really looked at it. Though I doubt I would have guessed who made it, the brushwork was very familiar.  What is obviously based on old Momoyama style suibokuga, the decoration is an abstracted landscape which speaks of far off places and a very tranquil and calming atmosphere which the form echoes. I marvel at the abbreviated and direct decoration, it speaks of nearly an infinite variety of landscapes and places we all know and love. In its own way,  it is any place we can imagine, painting a grand illusion in its brevity. What ends up being a rather powerful and evocative brush stroke is an excuse to get lost in a myriad of possibilities.

In truth this is not Seto-yaki, rather it is Iga pottery, not the Iga that normally comes to mind, but rather the place it was created and the potter, Banura Shiro, is every bit the Iga potter. Working in styles influenced by much older pottery and the Rimpa tradition, Banura created work that relies on common designs, motifs and decoration, but used in a potent and original manner while making them best fit three dimensional forms, a skill he excelled at. First dipped in a coat of white slip, the iron brushwork is applied, over which an ash based translucent amber glaze is used and the results are quite wonderful. It ends up being a rather earthy pot which exudes charm and at the end of the day, this is one of the most antique modern pots I have seen in some time and this but another skill of Banura Shiro.

"The closest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness." John Muir

CREDIT CARD APPLICATION

In keeping with the slip posts, illustrated is a teabowl out of my last firing, it is porcelain with a thick porcelain slip over it. The slip was applied with an old credit card that had been cut in half and the front gently rounded; not exceptionally original, but effective none the less. The pattern was first applied horizontally with three groups of three swipes made vertically at a slight diagonal. The glaze on the bowl is an amber ash glaze that has specks of debris locked into the surfaces adding another dimension to it. Given the credit card application, I think the surface has come out rather casual and with just the right amount of gesture, in hand, the raised slip adds another layer of interest to the bowl.

"Originality is simply a pair of fresh eyes."  Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823-1911)

SLIP PATTERN

Starting out with a simple idea and form, cut paper is applied to the piece, thick slip is applied all over the surface of the pot and when set up, the paper is removed and the pattern emerges. This was a favorite and oft used technique of Shinkai Kanzan (1912-1996) that together with a rich base glaze and a variety of oxide washes, created both vivid color variations and gesture within the decoration. From this perspective, the full breath of the pattern is visible, almost as if to imitate a carousel in motion with rich tones of amber and burgundy dividing the form along defined visual section. As with many of his pots decorated in this manner, it is a simple idea that yields the most infinite of possibilities.

AO REVISITED

Anyone who has worked with cobalt in glazes is well aware, to get to where you want to go, it is not always just about adding more and more oxide. That was the case with wanting to liven up the intensity of my Ao glaze and hopefully making it say a bit more, adding more cobalt, just made it bluer and didn't necessarily get me the results I was interested in. I realized that though the cobalt would need to be increased a very small amount, other tweaks would be needed or I would just end up with a dark blue glaze. Through a number of tests and relying on tips from Kawai Kanjiro, I added a touch of iron to temper the blue together with another ingredient that I was clued in to by looking back on the Parmellee book. Illustrated is the newest version of the Ao glaze on a porcelain teabowl with thick slip looking almost fluted around the piece. The glaze is richer than the old version with highly active spots here and there, further activating the surface. At the bottom of each of the slip channels, there are running pools of rich, indigo blue glaze with feathery trails of light blue streaking running to the foot with the areas of the thickest slip creating white borders about the bowl. I have yet to go beyond the teabowl scale but a vase and covered jar are next in line for testing out the new blue.

"This unknown self, is revealed through the work of the hands and body, and is that unconscious element in every man that prods him on to new achievements." Kawai Kanjiro (from WE DO NOT WORK ALONE; The Thoughts of Kawai Kanjiro)

UNEXPECTED

If you stop and think about the Mino potter, Toyoba Seiya (b. 1942), a wide variety of styles come to mind; from earthy kohiki wares, Oribe, Shino of various styles, Ki-Seto and even Seto-guro. What may come as a surprise is the yakishime style that he makes which includes both Bizen and Shigaraki pottery. Having maintained a long apprenticeship under Arakawa Toyozo which lasted 14 years, it was not until 1974 that he went on to build his own studio and kiln at the foot of his master's studio. It was only natural that he would take the styles he studied to hand and ply his craft around the variety of Mino tradition potteries at which his master was so adept. Like a fellow apprentice, Tsukigata Nahiko, Toyoba was exposed to the fullest variety of work that Arakawa created and this also became ingrained in his psyche. Once he set up his own studio, it was time to explore the vast array of clay in his own voice and for some, it is the unexpected that best suits one's true temperament.

Toyoba Seiya continues to create works in a wide variety of styles and from time to time also fires Bizen and Shigaraki pots in his wood kiln, presumably nearest to the fire-mouth to encourage natural ash (shizen-yu) build up on the pieces. Illustrated is a rather lovely Shigaraki chawan by Toyoba that has been streamlined in form, the vagaries and superfluous details shed to let the form, clay and fired surface communicate without any boundaries or impediments. Surveying the well ash coated form, over the lip and into the bowl, there is an luscious pool of green glass that collected leaving tell-tale clues as to how the pot was fired. This clearly is one of those chawan that would have been equally at home in the early Edo Period or a modern tea room of the 21st century.

"There is nothing special about making ceramics. That is why it's so difficult." Toyoba Seiya

MARGINS

Like a number of modern Japanese potters, Ito Sekisui V is able to draw from over three centuries of experience going back generations in his family. Though he is able to use the technology and firing methods from his families long history, his skill and artistry is entirely in his own, exceptionally capable hands. In many respects though, it is this deep well of experience that gives potters like Ito a distinct advantage and for potters in the United States, having  three hundred year old shoulders to stand on is virtually unheard of. Ito Sekisui V, a Ningen Kokuho for this technique is well versed in the use of the locales' native vermillion red, mumyoi clay, a fine grained and beautiful clay. It was originally fired in such a way as to best showcase the color and texture of the clay until Sekisui V started using the natural yohen, kiln change techniques which created localized reduction and "painted" the surface of the pots with varying hues of color, complimenting the natural clay color and creating vivid, ethereal landscapes and skyscapes not seen before. In person it is quite apparent that words can little describe this aesthetic, the work is breathtaking and lets each viewer determine the story that the pot has to tell.

Illustrated is a large and elegant mumyoi tsubo by Ito Sekisui V which clearly shows the rich vermillion clay and the bands or waves of the localized reduction that ring around the pot like some far distant planet seen by the Hubble space telescope. The margins between the red clay body and the grey-blue region is like the rings of Saturn displaying a number of color gradations and hues that the photo hints at, but is best seen in person. Though I say this quite often, this is another pot that appears quite simple at first glance, but as you take the time to see what it has to say, you realize it is anything but simplicity and certainly nothing that is common.

(Photo provided and used with the kind permission of a collector.)

WHAT A CHOY

In keeping with the celadon theme, illustrated is a porcelain cap jay I made a while back. It was paddled about four hours after it was thrown so that it would stiffen up enough not to collapse. Once bisque, it was glazed in the Choy Blue celadon I wrote about back in 6/2010. I have to admit, this has been one of the most versatile and forgiving glazes I have ever used and certainly one of the oldest formulas in my recipe book. I started using this about 1990 or 1991 as original and in a variety of altered forms from yellow celadon to a great opaque blue celadon as well. It is hard to get the application wrong, it is nice on porcelain, stoneware and over slips  and it pools nicely on high points and marks creating a wonderful contrast within the glaze. Though it is the definition of the proverbial, "dip & dunk" glaze, it also works well as a base glaze with accents or pours of copper red, Hamada Oribe, iron glazes and my oilspot glaze. Having been pressed into service for over two decades, if I had to pick 5 glazes and no more, this would likely be my first pick, this Choy is a joy to use.

"Tranquil pleasures last the longest, we are not fitted to bear the burden of great joys."  Christian Nestell Bovee (1820-1904)

SEIJI FRAMEWORK

Illustrated is another piece by Seiji specialist, Suzuki Sansei. Built by hand, this pot is another example of Suzuki's exceptional skill and precision glazing.  A large and imposing form, the tsubo has a wonderfully serene surface with several iron tinged craze lines breaking up the perfection of the surface. The form is further accentuated by thinning the glaze along the high points, ridges and boundaries of the piece giving it a taunt framework that encompasses the fullness of the form and the richness of the glaze. The visual dichotomy between the perfect and the irregular, makes Suzuki's pot an excellent vessel for a prolonged and lively dialogue.

COOL BLUE MONDAY

Based on Longquan glazes developed in China during the Sung Dynasty (1127-1297), celadon glazes have played an important role in the pottery of Japan especially during the studio movement of the Meiji Period. Indirectly, Suzuki Sansei (b. 1936) is related to that movement through his master Kawamura Seizan (1890-1967) who served as a bridge between the old and the contemporary. Through his study with Kawamura, Suzuki Sansei learned the skills and technology of modern celadon along with an array of other techniques, though he choose to dedicate his work to the cool blue seiji glazes on porcelain which he is best known for. Illustrated is a classic example of pottery by Suzuki Sansei, most likely made in the mid-1990's. The form is glazed in a pale blue seiji, almost robin's egg in color, which along with a few accentuated craze lines paints a noble picture of a simple and elegant pot finished off with a loop handle that mimics the overall form. Though richly influenced by Chinese pottery, this mizusashi has its roots clearly in  Japan that goes back at least as far as the Edo Period. Suzuki Sansei has done an exceptional job of infusing the pot with the best of the past to create a thoroughly modern piece.

90K

Illustrated is a rather well fired vase, thrown out of very nice clay and having all the characteristics of Iga pottery. What makes this a bit different is that it was made by Takiguchi Kiheiji (b.1937), the veteran Oribe potter. While Takiguchi is best known for his Oribe creations, in fact he has also made Seto-guro, Ki-Seto, Mino-Iga and as this piece can attest, Iga pottery. This classic pot shows the careful study that the potter has made into the history of Iga pottery and his experience and thoughtful eye have created a vase that would look at home in any exhibit of Iga-yaki though created approximately 90 kilometers from Iga, off in Gifu prefecture.

TSUBAKI

Illustrated is a simple, yet elegant yabu-tsubaki camellia japonica in a even simpler Shigaraki vase by Kohyama Yasuhisa. The lone opened camellia blossom is flanked by several other buds and leaves from a single stem now residing in a rustic and worn vase suspended on a cypress plank. The beauty of a simple object is many times best defined through use and in this case, it appears that this vase was created for this very moment in time.

VISITING MASHIKO

I am firing a bisque today, which somehow got me thinking about an internet friend of mine who is on his way to Japan in a couple of weeks on business in Tokyo. Once that is concluded, he and his wife are going off to Mashiko. Like a moth to a flame, most potters and pottery collectors are inexplicably drawn to Mashiko where Hamada Shoji, Sakuma Totaro, Murata Gen, Shimaoka Tatsuzo and many others have worked, creating pottery based on tenants of the folk craft movement. Like many before me, a visit to Mashiko was part of our treks to Japan back in the early 1990s. Seeing the wellspring of what many westerners were pursuing since the 1960s was rather inspiring and made its way into the work that I would create over the next two decades. I think in reality, it is nearly impossible to go to Mashiko without bringing some of it home with you.

Once back from a Mashiko adventure, I began to focus on creating my own glazes that had that Mashiko feel to them, though I was determined to make pots that were meaningful to me and not intended as copies. In essence, I would add the exposure of the Mashiko aesthetic into the blender and see what came out. Over the years I have gone back to that style to add to the vocabulary of my pots, though influenced by that trip, they are decidedly not Mashiko style pottery. Illustrated is a bamboo form teabowl with a iron red over a clear glaze on stoneware. I stamped cobalt/red iron triangles over the clear, waxed them off and then glazed the bowl in the iron red to create a piece that though it pays homage to Mashiko-yaki, is a thoroughly western pot.

"I am a part of all that I have met."  Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

PUSHED & PULLED

It is not exactly that I get bored easy, it is more about trying to see what I can do or what I can make of what I see in my head. I would be the first to admit, it doesn't always work out for the best, but the pursuit of each idea can ultimately lead to something unexpected and rather interesting. Illustrated is two views of a form that started out very round and then by pushing the form in at the middle, pulling the ends down a little and then  adding lobes to either side, I ended up with a neat oval bowl to which I added ringed lugs. This particular form is about 13" across and will act as a spring board for working out the idea. It all happened rather fast from thrown to altered and the addition of the lobes and gently accentuating each lobe just seemed natural as the form was evolving. Now I am wondering how this would respond in porcelain and what are the other possibilities.

"To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first."   Wm. Shakespeare