A friend sent me this picture
that he found somewhere on the web, so I apologize if this is your picture. At
first glance it looks like a Kawai school pot, possibly even Ueda Tsuneji, but
in fact, it is another Kimura Ichiro molded vase, this time in vivid and active
nerikomi patterning. Using his stoneware with oxides to darken it, Kimura made
slabs out of the three clays, patterned together to push into a press mold made in
the style of his teacher, Hamada Shoji. This bottle shape is very common and it
is the subtle nuances that sets the potters apart as much as the decoration and
glazing. The bottle, glazed in a thin clear has developed wonderfully lyrical
pattern which emphasizes not only the vertical but the horizontal nature of the
pot. I love the movement of the pot and once again, Kimura proves the value of
two tried and true techniques in molded bottle and nerikomi but succeeds in
making a personal statement with his own creative voice within the large body
of Mashiko pottery.
"A man's style is his mind's
voice. Wooden minds, wooden voices."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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