THE OLD STYLE

This jpeg is another image I have had on my computer for quite some time and every time I look at it, it feels as if I am looking back in time. Made by Nakagawa Jinenbo (1953-2011), this Karatsu style kohiki mizusashi looks like it was made much earlier then in actuallity being a product of the Heisei era. The casual faceted form has a timeless, weathered, cracked surface that appears much more feudal than modern and shows a great dedication to Ko-Karatsu which Nakagawa specialized in making pots in a wide variety of the old styles using traditional methods, clays, glazes and kiln firing. I have seen a wide array of pottery by Nakagawa in Japan and over the years and I am particularly draw to his kohiki style which shows such inspired subtlties and are the epitome of casual in their creation. It is a great tragedy that such a gifted potter left at such an early age, one can only wonder what great pots he would have left behind beyond those already made and fired in his unique and old style way.

STRETCHED OUT

For a while now I have been making up my own higher iron clay body which throws rather well and looks nice when fired but I began to discover that it has its limitations in regards to man-handling it. The more I push, shove, fold and alter, the more it was just not happy with the process so I set about altering the formula a bit and here is the latest incarnation. I will start off by saying that there is not a lot of large particles in the mix and I don't use grog, but this test seems to respond well to be folded, altered, pushed, pulled and stretched out. The illustrated bowl was thrown round with a slight waist and then it was folded up to an oval form and then I carefully stretched out the clay above and below the waist to create a bowl almost twice as wide as it was when it was thrown. As you can see, once tooled I applied a thick slip that I combed above and below the waist and am now keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't collapse before it dries enough to be stable. Provided it makes it through the bisque and glaze firing, I will post up the finished piece and conclude the newest clay body will allow me more latitude when working with it, after all, a potter has to know his clay's limitations.

A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP

I recently received an email asking if I could show an overall photo of the large Matsuzaki Ken Shino tsubo that I posted in a post entittled; PERSPECTIVE. When possible, I try to be accomidating and since I took a large number of photos of this piece and have not built a slideshow video of the pot, this photo will have to suffice for the time being. As I pointed out in the original post, I was just not prepared for the actual scale and volume of the piece as it is quite large and certainly commands the space it is in and that is around it as well, a pot like this is a lot like a beautiful friendship. Along with the sheer presence of it being a large pot, the form is sturdy and solid with a surface that has just about everything you can imagine from the thick whipped cream like Shino, subtle iridescence here and there, rich yohen and ash coating the pot forming areas of beautiful glass across the piece. I have to admit, it was an impressive piece and spent way to short a time here but none the less it has left an indelible mark on my mind's eye and will be hard to forget as time goes by*.

(*Sorry, I couldn't resist, not one but two CASABLANCA references. How often do you see that in a pottery blog post?)

BOTAMOCHI

On my first trip to Japan, I was fortunate to encounter a wonderful exhibition showcasing primarily chadogu made by Kaneshige Michiaki, eldest son of Kaneshige Toyo. There was a wide variety of pieces and surfaces each complimenting his forms and I distinctly remember a very fine chaire that had been fired on its side, botamochi style very much like this illustrated piece. The chaire was placed on a pad which then acts as a "resist", keeping ash from building up on the surface and thus creating this rather vivid area ringed by various attempts of the ferocity of the kiln to paint the masked area, the results can be quite wonderful as seen on this diminutive little giant. Back in the early 1990s there was a wonderful series of videos which high lighted 90 of Japan's finest teaware makers, GENDAI (no) Chato. Of the twelve vidoes, all but three featured 10 to 12 potters however Kaneshige Michiaki was in one of only three videos which feaured just three potters attesting to his standing in regards to making chadogu. This chaire has everything you would want from rich surface to engaging and enticing form obviously crafted by a master potter at the height of his skill; a classic pot by a classic potter, Kaneshige Michiaki.

T&A V

I have mentioned previously that after my first trip to Japan, I became interested in bells as a form more than as the functional object. If you look at bells from ancient China and medieval Japan, the forms, decoration and construction of these objects is wonderful with such a wide variety all created for the nearly exactly the same purpose. Using the dotaku bell form as a starting point, I like making these thrown and altered pieces and in this case, a simple piece with an incised grasses pattern under my rich lepidolite Oribe. In making this piece, I tried to keep the lines crisp, forming graduated angles and then added lugs to either side of the pot and a thrown neck/mouth to complete the pot. Due to my shortage of materials, the glaze was sparingly and carefully brushed on to the piece once bisque with areas receiving a secondary coat around the shoulder, neck and mouth. I thought this pot came out rather well and that was the sole reason that I found the pot lepidolite worthy, as the matrial runs out I will have to be more and more selective as to where it should be used and in the mean time, the testing to get a closer version of this glaze moves ever forward.

AN INVITATION TO TEA

A long while back I wrote about an early 17th century Shigaraki chawan that belongs to the Cleveland Museum of Art and recently I found a photo of a chawan that though rather modern, has many of the same attributes of the original from form, posture and overall presence. This chawan is by Furutani Michio, made in the 1990s and has the very same attitude as if extending an invitation to tea. This is a simple bowl, high sided with casual but not overly emphasized throwing marks with a slight flair as the bowl progresses to the lip. I imagine it is a rather tactile bowl with the areas of peppered ash creating a familiar and active sensation. Though these two bowls were created centuries apart, it is obvious the Furutani Michio considered the exact same functional and aesthetic sensibilities as the 17th potter; how does the chawan feel in the hand, considering the weight, circumference, the lip, the tea pool and the appearance; basically, how do you make a chawan that appeals to all of the senses. Though if you were to put the CMA chawan and this one by Furutani Michio side by side, there are obvious differences but it is the similarities that ties the old to the new and after all, that is the best that a potter steeped in tradition can ever hope to do.

GAMA-YOHEN

This chawan showed up the other day and I took a group of photos and made this slideshow video to show off the surface which is a bit unusual. Made by a classic Showa potter, Ichikawa Kodo, this gama-yohen chawan shows a wide variety of textures and colors with wonderful iridescence and copper flashes across the bowl. I don't know a lot about the potter other than he specialized in this gama-yohen as well as Shino and Oribe pottery. I think what makes this bowl appealing is the unique surface, pratical size and form and its dedication to function, I hope the video gives off that sense as well.

You can see more of this chawan over on my Trocadero marketplace;
https://www.trocadero.com/stores/albedo3studio/items/1374753/GAMA-YOHEN-CHAWAN-BY-ICHIKAWA-KODO

GOLDEN BROWN

I was throwing a couple weeks back and had some extra clay left over from throwing off the hump so I threw a couple of high sided teabowls. Once thrown, the question was what to do with them and since I had some black and white slips looking me in the face, I decided to make two quick mishima style inlay pieces. This one was carved with a real uneven herringbone style texture and then had white and black slip inlaid before it was carved off, the other one was done in just white slip inlay. I used my saffron style glaze over this piece and then added a wash of iron to deepen the color to a rich,golden brown. The other bowl was glazed in Oribe and though the inlay is a bit harder to see, it makes still makes for an interesting texture.

AFFINITY AND BEYOND

I posted a shadowy shot of this Bizen vase a while back and finally got around to putting together a slideshow video of it. Made by Masamune Satoru, this exhibition vase (the video ends with the exhibition postcard) is as casual as they come, slightly altered with spatula work and cuts here and there, the lugs animate the piece while the varying firing effects, fire color and tsuchi-aji clothing the form. I have mentioned this before but for some reason I am drawn to Masamune's way of handling clay and creating form, his pots seem to fit every nook and cranny, house or apartment and look quite nice in use. I hope the video conveys a bit of why I admire his pottery and the affinity I have for it, enjoy.

SNOW

I used this illustration of this wonderful Shimizu Uichi mizusashi a while back on my blog but given the current weather here, thought it rather apropos to use again. This time I am showing off the rear of the pot where a large kanji for the word snow is "painted" through the viscous white glaze right down to the dark, rich black iron glaze underneath. Though I can't see any black of our driveway pavement through the thick blanket of snow here, this pot reminded me of the current situation developing outside possibly with the glimmer of hope that like the surface of the mizusashi, perhaps the snow will begin to melt in the near future giving way to an actual driveway and even grass. One can hope.

YOU KNOW ME, RIGHT?

I like making usable, functional pots. Aside from my original inclinations, working along side three Leach pupils helped solidify exactly what that means and though I go off script from time to time, as both collector and potter, function is what interests me the most.  This small stoneware yunomi is a fair example, though intended for beverages, it can accomidate a number of useful applications from spirits to any snacks and just about anything in between. The throwing is rather straight forward with incised lines around the form creating a hint of quilting. The impressed marks around the cup makes it just a bit more tactile and activate the surface as well as trapping some of the running ash glaze creating a translucency that hints at the clay beneath. The combination of the ash glaze over temmoku is a good, sturdy surface that should hold up to day to day use for quite a long while and in it the user gets to see new things daily carrying on  a nice conversation between cup, tea and user.

WIND IN THE WILLOWS

When you conjour up an image of pottery by Tomimoto Kenkichi, you can see the majestic and intricated painted porcelains he is so well known for but there is another side to his work that rarely gets the attention it deserves. The work I am talking about is the ink painting inspired pottery made as slipware, stoneware and painted porcelains that he concentrated on early in his career depicted all types of flora, fauna, landscapes and pattern some of which has connections to the Mingei movement, The Arts and Crafts Movement, various folk potteries, older Kutani and even Momoyama inspired ink painting. Though I love his inticate painted porcelains, I love his more spontaneous and subdued works on pottery and in ink and water colors as well. This vivid ink and wash scroll painting brings you to the exact spot of the image, feeling the wind in the willows, hearing the rustling of the blowing branches and leaves. It is wonderful how using just the right amount of brush strokes and the right depth of color can stir the imagination and set the mind in to motion; unquestionably the skill of a gifted artist.