KOBU-SHINO

Soft white feldspar bordered by areas of rich, deep iron filled with cells of texture and color cover this pot from head to toe including the soft and undulating lid and purposeful knob. The truth is that every time you see a pot by Sakai Kobu, the Kobu-Shino immediately identifies exactly what you are looking at and though I have seen a number of mizusashi by him over the years, it seems like it is much more common to encounter his chawan than these larger pieces. As is readily apparent from the photo, Sakai throws his pots so they appear like that have a softness to them, the curvy lines almost look like the pot is in mid-collapse but it is these characteristic attributes that are so appealing to the eye and to the touch that are only accentuated by his skillful use of his modified Shino and iron glazes and his use of slips under the surface. Each pot paints a landscape, a portrait, a still life as the potter sees fit with his pieces resonating at different frequencies to different viewers, this is the beauty of his Kobu-Shino.

IRON & ASH III

After I posted the iron and ash vase last week got me thinking to the sheer number of pots I have made in that combination of glazes, certainly a thousand and more. While going over this combo I remembered a lone bowl that was made as an extras from a set of six that hung around the studio for quite some time until a couple came and took it and a number of other pots home as gifts for a holiday past. I know it will sound odd that I would remember this single bowl which is illustrated but it spent some time near the wheel, covered in clay splatter and filled with slip brushes so i finally decided to clean it up and take a few photos. Though I made extras of the set, the customers picked six of the seven available and left this one which I was particularly happy with as the lines of the form and glaze came out rather well but the ash on the upper half was just different, almost chatoyant in nature like looking in to a wild cat's eyes. Once cleaned up and set on a shelf it became far game and was the first thing sold as some clients came to the studio, I still wonder if I should have left it clay coated and filled with brushes.

And because, who doesn't like Gordon Lightfoot;

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

It is that time of year and at least here the ground is covered in winter's thick white embrace. I just wanted to wish everyone the Happiest of Holidays and a very festive and promising New Year!

HIER EN DAR

Illustrated is a rather robust, exhibition chawan by Kishimoto Kennin. I handled this chawan a while back and always find it interesting when I can correlate an exhibition photo to the pot in hand to get a sense of not only what the bowl looks like to my eye and through my camera lens but also through the vision of a photographer in their studio somewhere in Japan. I will start by saying that the photo I took of the page out of the exhibtion catalogue is a bit washed out but at least from my experience does not capture the richness, depth and power of this Iga chawan which I have tried to portray in my photo. For those interested in technique, using my camera set to automatic focus and with the tungsten filter set to on, I used a 100watt tungsten bulb to photograph this piece and other than to crop the photo, no photo manipulation was undertaken. The photo I ended up with here is exceptionally close to what the chawan looks like in person and unlike the catalogue picture, you can see the depth of the ash surface, the richness of the clay and the perpetual wetness that the pot exudes. I have written about Kishimoto Kennin in previous blog posts, I truly admire how he handles clay and fires his pots from Iga to seiji and all the styles in between, he strive to allow the clay to speak under any natural of added surface and creates pots that add to the traditions in which he works. I was very happy with my experience handling this chawan and being able to see it here and there but it never ceases to amaze me how different a pot can look through two different lens.

TORI-TSUBO

I just received this wonderful porcelain tsubo from a collector to put up on my trocadero marketplace, though quite a nice pot it doesn't quite go with all of his rather rustic, wood fired pieces. The exquisitely painted sparrow and foliage across the surface with vivid watercolor like effects calling to mind a scene right out of early autumn and wraps partially around the tsubo leaving large, imagined areas of negative space. The detail of the painting is rather intricate and obviously owes its inspiration to many of the Meiji era  and 20th century Nihonga painters of which Watanabe Seitei and Konno Bairei immediately springs to mind. I took a group of photos and built this short video slideshow to help fill out the pot and hopefully give a sense of the quality of painting and the essence of 20th century Japanese porcelain painting.

You can see more of this tsubo over at my Trocadero marketplace;

https://www.trocadero.com/stores/albedo3studio/items/1371485/EXCEPTIONALLY-PAINTED-TORI-TSUBO

TEA CADDY

Though influenced by traditional Japanese chaire, this tea caddy is close to the archetype but not entirely reliant on it. I have been making these little covered pots for quite some time and they make excellent an tea caddy for loose tea, tea bags or what ever one can imagine for their purpose which could include just sitting up on a shelf. Glazed in my temmoku with an ash glaze over, I tried to create the iconic drip on the front, omote of the caddy just like with many Japanese chaire which worked to a certain extent but ash glazes do tend to have a mind of their own. What I can say by looking at this little pot and the photo is that there are few surfaces that give as much depth, richness and beauty as a tried and true ash glaze.

THICK MELTING SNOW

As I look out our front windows, there is bright white snow as far as the eye can see, covering the farms, hills and valley but if you look carefully, selectively, you can see areas of the thick snow melting. The vista reminded me of a slideshow video I made sometime ago and never posted of a rather unusual Hagi mizusashi covered over in a thick white shirahagi glaze resembling thick melting snow. The mizusashi was made by Miwa Kyusetsu XI  student, Yoshida Shuen (1940-1987) in the early 1980s as a thrown "cone" that was then altered to create an ovoid form to which a very thick, over 1/2" roiro black lacquer custom lid was added. The mizusashi is accentuated by combed banding around the piece with a bold spatula mark on the face and areas of intense, dripping glaze resembling melting snow on the exterior and around the mouth of the interior creating a rather engaging visual presentation. Though I had forgotten to post this video, I certainly had not forgotten the pot and hope the slideshow fills out the conversation I had with this simple and practical Hagi mizusashi.

OUT OF THE BOX II

Illustrated is a detail shot of a futamono, covered box by Matsubayashi Hosai XIV, what makes this piece a bit different is just exactly what you are looking at. The Matsubayashi family have made Asahi-yaki for generations and what that means in broad terms is that using local materials, local to the Kyoto environs, their pottery is similar to gohonde spotted wares one normally thinks of as Hagi ware but it has its own unique qualities as you delve deeper into the pottery. The covered box which I recently handled and photographed will become a slideshow video at some point but I thought its unique character and Chinese influenced surface shows just how Hosai continues a tradition while thinking a bit outside the box. This surface is lush, exotic and well suited to the piece which is intended as a sweets box, thrown out of a fine stoneware clay the piece is glazed right up to the edges which have developed thick rolls of glaze without the lid and bottom being permanently affixed. Like the more traditional Asahi-yaki made by Matsubayashi Hosai XIV, this futamono is precisely thrown, well crafted and the glaze is applied with perfection, though not the normal pottery one would expect from this potter it is obvious that this was not his first attempt at such an uncompromising and demanding surface.

TURN OVER A NEW LEAF

Illustrated is the turned footring interior of a terra cotta vase I made recently. As you can see the pot is decorated in my "falling leaves" decoration of red, yellow and green leaves on a rich, black background on terra cotta clay which includes sgrafitto outlining and detailing the leaves. The idea to decorate the interiors of the foot rings and undersides of lids has to do with something someone said long before I started making pots and has stuck with me" "every object has six sides", simple enough and from my perspective that includes the bottom. Though I don't necessarily decorate the bottoms or lid interiors on every pot, I do so when the mood and pot asks for just a little more embellishment or those times when I am just in the groove and a little more is just what the clay doctor ordered. I know that when in use this vase will have some water and flowers in it but when it it time to clean up and put it away it is easy to turn over a new leaf with little to no effort.

THE BEST EVER

Back, shortly after we moved to central NY State a friend of mine called and excitedly told me he had found me the most incredible mizusashi that one could imagine. naturally, I asked for a description or a photo, after all we are living in the digital age but was told he was going to pack it up and ship it to me and it was a house warming gift. Days passed, then a week, then two and I decided to ask, how was it shipped, strapped to a herd of snails pointed in the approximate direction and was told his car broke down and he just hadn't made his way to the post office, I would just have to wait for the most exceptional, incredible mizusashi known to man. Several more weeks passed and one day while working in the studio the postman showed up with a somewhat large box for a mizusashi but I figured it was just well packed. As soon as I opened the box, I knew something was not quite right as the contents we not likely ceramic and the weight was off. As I pulled and cut away foam paper, newsprint and bubble wrap the piece emerged, not a Japanese mizusashi but rather a Danish Modern ice bucket designed by Jens Quistgaard for Dansk in 1950. Made out of staved teak with a waterproof liner on the interior, the Quistgaard ice bucket is a classic marriage of traditional and modern Scandinavian design and has proven to be one of my favorite "mizusashi" that could have been that I have every received as it was a gift from a great and caring friend.

KR VI

Illustrated is a fine Kyoto style chawan by legendary master, Kiyomizu Rokubei V (1901-1980). This chawan shows the classical training Rokubei VI received from his father, the fifth generation of the family, with inspirations of Rimpa and Nihonga style painting The fine, crackle feldspar base glaze plays a fine host to the whispy grass and solid purple morning glories that adorn the chawan all sandwiched like a scroll painting between lip and foot. There is a balanced sense of nobility and pathos to this chawan that I can not shake but unlike the beauty of nature that it portraits, this chawan will endure long beyond most potters and viewers.

IRON & ASH II

Illustrated is one of my bamboo form vases which came out rather well with a rich iron surface dipped in my favorite ash glaze. After the piece was thrown, I cut out three large areas creating a tripod style foot and using two little, pinched wads of clay I added lugs to either side near the top of the vase and then cut out half moons to match the feet on the piece. As you can probably tell, this is another pot that I got very lucky on as the ash ran all the way down the pot and stopped just shy of sticking the piece to the self; though I like runny glazes, this was more than a bit close. I have always been fascinated by various take-gata, bamboo form vases by the likes of Rosanjin and Arakawa and have tried to make my own version of the idea and when coupled with various subtle details and various glaze combinations I would like to think that I have succeeded.

FEW AND FAR BETWEEN

I remember the first pot that I ever saw by Tokuda Yasokichi III, it was a long time ago and was part of an exhibit that was also showing pieces by Hara Kiyoshi, Udagawa Hosei and another potter who I just can not name at the moment and never saw his pots ever again. The Tokuda was an elegant, large gourd form vase with a brilliant assemblage of colors complimenting and provoking the lines of the piece, it was quite wonderful and did I mention large? Over the years I have seen a disproportionate number of vases in all shapes and sizes and lots of plates as well but mizusashi and chawan, few and far between. I am certainly not suggesting in any way that his chawan and mizusashi are "rare" or "scarce" as I have seen them all over the internet and in catalogues and books but I can count the chawan I have seen on one hand and about the same for mizusashi. The illustrated chawan is an earlier work by Tokuda with a deep, rich purple ground accented with copper greens and blues and even white punctuating the bowl. The bowl is simple in execution but a perfect ground for his brilliant glazing and enameling to which few can match his technique and craft. Though I have not seen many Tokuda Yasokichi III chawan first hand, I can say without any hesitation, they have never been anything less than a rewarding conversation in color, space and form.