UNRESTRAINED

I've been around pottery and potters long enough that I can tell you what makes a good pot and a good potter and one characteristic that is shared is that sense of pushing the form and surface right to the edge and not crossing that line, the creation of a piece that is just right. One of the things that I have realized about my time making pots is that I have a seemingly genetic marker for being a bit unrestrained, in other words generally I get right up to that edge and then take a good flying leap beyond it. Illustrated is a 2vue shot of a teabowl I recently glazed and fired using my new nuka oatmeal ash glaze, NOA-3 for short, as you can see there is nothing subtle about the piece with a black slip under the glaze and two iron glazes over the surface to create a rather abstract decorated surface. Though I doubt one can tell, there is a pattern which roams around the bowl three times in the darker iron glaze with areas of the yellow iron being put randomly about the surface, I realize it is a bit chaotic but I love the frentic energy of decorating this way and in how the pieces turn out. Though there is some method to the madness, the way the glazes are brushed on without the ability to see where the slips are underneath makes for a certain degree of random chance to dictate how the final piece will turn out and that is where I am most happy.

"Random chance plays a huge part in everybody's life." Gary Gygax

ON MEMORIAL DAY

I realize this is an often and over used quote but I think it meets the deep rooted sentiment of our collective experiences.

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."  Martin Luther King Jr.

EQUAL TIME

I was recently reminded yet again that my blog is rather biased to which I admit, that is absolutely true. The bias stems from my personal taste and experiences and quite frankly there is nothing wrong with that, after all it is my rambling blog about both potters and pots. The person who leveled the claim is a collector of almost exclusively Bizen potter, no bias in that so in an attempt to give equal time to other types, I thought I would show this rather nice Ko-Mino hanaire and what is not to like? This vase is by Mino specialist Ando Hidetake was fired  in his wood kiln and where ash has landed it has made a drier, straw yellow surface reminiscent of Ki-Seto pottery though he is rather particular in naming these works Ko-Mino despite the areas at the shoulder, neck and mouth that I would classify as aburage style. Tall and well thrown, the deeply incised lines accentuate the vertical nature of the vase and add a subtle twist to the form that sets it in motion while the ash and glaze moving down the surface is rather visually appealing. Ando was raised in a pottery family before apprenticing under Kato Tokuro so the study and tradition of the Mino area is in his blood and comes quite naturally to him as is evidenced in this expressive hanaire just waiting on flowers and its placement in the a tea house tokonoma or on a shelf in one's home. I may be biased in what I like, but it is the individuals addition to his craft and personal vision that interests me and less so where they were made or from what tradition they sprang and I am convinced that this applies to a pioneer like Ando Hidetake.

"It is better to create than to learn; creating is the essence of life."  Julius Caesar

JEEZ, WHAT A PAIR

Illustrated is a pair of Shigaraki tanuki kogo by Furutani Michio. Both were hand modeled and then cut open and hollowed out and though they look similar, the differences are obvious making each piece quite unique from the details of the tanuki physicality to the attributes from the wood firing. The tanuki on the right was a gift from Furutani-san on our first visit to his studio and holds a very dear spot in our memories, the kogo on the left was found on the web somewhere and was made in the same year as the other one. Happenstance, serendipity, who knows but I do know they make quite the charming couple.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

I few months back I made a hand full of inlaid slip teabowls and a few other pieces and apparently this bowl was overlooked at the time and just put up on a shelf, out of sight out of mind. While looking for a pair of yunomi that a customer wanted, I noticed this bowl again and realized it looked a bit different than the other pieces. As you will notice there is an inlaid slip pattern but what really catches the eye is the diagonal pattern that goes around the bowl where the slip pattern is. Unlike the other pieces using other glazes, this one used a recent Oribe that high lights the rythmic undulations that appear like waves moving around the bowl. These inlaid pieces were first slip and once set up and firm, I used a broad, slightly curved tool to cut off the excess and reveal the slip pattern which created slight diagonal furrows that are certainly accentuated by this oribe glaze. This was neither devised or planned but rather is an  welcome unintended consequence of the process that I have absolutlely no problem living with adding to the teabowl both in the hand or just hanging about on a shelf.

UNCOMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP

Unfettered and simple are certainly varying ways to describe this serene Iga chawan by Sugimoto Sadamitsu. The simple, high sided teabowl tapers little from bottom to top and is crowned with a lip that undulates and moves just enough to give it a weathered and natural appearance as if worn down by the ferocity and velocity of the firing. The surface paints a subtle mural like a Momoyama ink painting across the piece which is high lighted on the very face with an area puncuated with green ash while the area at the base to the foot creates a wonderful shadowline of negative space. About as feudal looking as they come, Sugimoto has created a bowl full of complex subtlties with everything extra cast aside to present a chawan full of dialogue in a lasting and uncomplicated relationship with the viewer.

KLOCK HOLLOW

Several years ago I received a phone call from Bill Klock telling me a small pot was on its way via a US gallery all the way from England. While vacationing in the UK, Bill had spent time with his old friend Clive Bowen and made this little jug using Clive's Devonshire clay and glazes and then it was fired and sent on to Mindy and I. I thought it rather special that while trekking about St. Ives and devonshire that Bill took the time to make us a pot knowing how fond we are for his pitchers and jugs. In retrospect, I now believe this may have been the last pot that Bill made and it shows the same vitality, spirit and warmth of the pots that I first encountered back in 1989. It is just a simple little jug with a utilitarian spout and handle but it has more to say than, "just use me, pour away". It is the small details and marks left in the clay that speak to me about how Bill handled clay and how he thought about pottery, without any superfluous verbage, decoration or details, this pot tells me it is a Klock Hollow jug.

I should mention there is a short bio for Bill in the book; THE LEACH LEGACY; St. Ives Pottery and its Inspiration, page 134 & 135.

COMMONWEALTH ASH

Recently a friend sent me some wood ash from his studio in Virginia, so as with all new materials, I decided to test it and glazed and decorated a teabowl and put it in the last firing. When I unloaded the kiln, there were two teabowls near each other, one from the old ash and one from the new Virginia ash and though both the Nuka surfaces were similar the colors were quite different. The old ash which had originated in upper NY State came from Bill Klock and my sister-in-law and has a decidedly blue-grey tone to it while the new ash (see the attached illustration) from the Commonwealth of Virginia seems quite a bit cleaner running to a just off-white color and a much brighter surface. Truthfully I am fine with both surfaces but it is quite apparent what just over 500 miles and varied sources can mean when using wood ash as a major glaze component.

OBJECT

I am not sure when I first saw one of these Bizen sculpture by Kaneshige Kosuke but I am sure it was in the very early 90s. My interests and collecting mostly revolve around rather functional pieces, especially those used for tea ceremony but for some reason I was instantly drawn to this series of work. As I look at them, my thoughts consider things elemental and primal making the Bizen firing a perfect choice for such pieces. The areas of ash, dryness and wet surfaces combine to reflect light and set mood in a variety of ways depending on one's vantage point making for an "object" that is constantly morphing and evolving as the form may possible suggest as well. I used to have a photo, taken with actually film mind you from and exhibit I saw in Japan with a similar piece flanked by a chawan on one side and a mizusashi on the other, to this day I am still struck by how natural and symbiotic the arrangement was then as much as it is in my memory today.

AKA-E

A number of years back there was a rather nice but small traveling show put on by the Japan Foundation; EXHIBITION OF JAPANESE TRADITIONAL POTTERY : Work in Traditional Styles by Modern Potters. This was an easy to remember exhibit as the pieces, all 65 of them were rather memorable and indicative of the potters represented. Among the group was a simple aka-e decorated stoneware hachi with areas of black glaze and overglaze red and green enamels by Kato Kenji. Inspired by the Persian pottery he is best known for the decoration and presentation was entirely his own voice and unique among modern Japanese pottery.

The slideshow video I just put together is of a far more intricate and provocative designed hachi though the form, style and techniques are identical with Kato's distinct vocabulary with bits of Persian and possibly Scythian elements thrown in for good measure. The decoration is wonderfully balanced on the squared form with rich whitish and black glaze acting as the back drop for wonderful brushwork using a deep red overglaze enamel with accents of green about the surface all tied together by whispy tendrils of quick, delicate and lyrical line work. Though I imagine this hachi was intended as a serving piece, I can't help but imagine a table set with six, eight or even twelve of this hachi acting as "dinner plates" at an other worldly gathering of friends and family.

LAST MINUTE

Illustrated is another avenue I am testing, a crackle slip, applied on bisque ware and then glazed, the first tests have been promising. This test cup came out fairly promising with the stark contrast of the black glaze over the clear and slipped bowl. The big mistake I made was that I didn't get the slip completely mixed and there are small nodules of slip material punctuating the surface. This was a rookie mistake and one I know better than to make but in my defense, the test idea was very last minute, the kiln was loaded and as they say, "time and tide wait for no man". The next go around I will seive the slip thoroughly using a 30 mesh screen and make sure it is100% ready to use. Some mistakes are unavoidable but it is the mistakes that you repeat because of time or space  constraints that always leave a little mark and in this case on both mind and pot.

RESISTENCE IS FEUDAL

After the Second World War, there was a real resurgence and reimagining of the feudal traditions of Japan, whether they were the glazed wares of Mino and other locales or the Rokkoyo; potters across the country turned to these archetypal pots to bring them well into a new century. Among these varied styles was that of Tokoname where Ezaki Issei spear-headed the rebirth of their ancient pottery along with several of his students such as Osako Mikio and Takeuchi Kimiaki. The illustrated medieval style tsubo is one facet of what modern Tokoname ware looks like as interpreted by Takeuchi Kimiaki where the clay body has the classic appearance of pots from the Ezaki school of pottering making along with the vivid, almost illuminated ash glaze wrapping the lip, mouth and shoulder of the piece while trails ending in bidoro gems cascade down the form. Though there are both subtle and overt differences in the works of Ezaki, Osako and Takeuchi, there are also a number of similarity as each worked within a singular vision of what ancient Tokoname pots had to say as well as how they wished to communicate what the modern tradition would add to those pots that had gone before. It is hard to resist this type of tsubo filled with purpose and created without an over bearing intellect where the elements are casually crafted to create a pot filled with the merging of the ancient and modern spirit.

MONOCHROME HENKO

There is not a lot I can say about this wonderful ink wash by Mashiko legend, Hamada Shoji. Painted in simple monochrome, this ink sketch captures everything one can imagine regarding his molded vase forms together with a fluid and spontaneous rendering of his iconic sugarcane motif. Hamada has easily captured the volume and scale of the pot which would be a more than welcome addition to any collector who actually owns such a henko. I have seen several pot and painting combos over the years and it would seem with enough patience and money, a pairing is not necessarily out of the question. Happy hunting!