TRADEMARK

A while back I had the opportunity to study and photograph a nice, early Kohyama Yasuhisa Shigaraki mentori-hanaire which is a master class in faceting and surface. In taking quite a number of photos for my personal reference and for an impending slideshow video, the vase was put up on a shelf which is one of my favorite places to look at pots and in the late afternoon as the sun pours in, the pot though bathed in light begins to recess mysteriously almost disappearing as the sun goes down. This time of day let's me see details, lines, marks that may other wise go un-noticed reminding me of several old movies like McKENNA'S GOLD and THE VALLEY OF GWANGI where the characters wait on the sunlight to point the way to their treasure or goal. This particular photo shows off not only the form created through the faceting process but also high lights Kohyma's trademark pebbly surface created by a specific process nurtured through years of firing experimentation and adaptation which builds up ash through a skillfull use of stoking, temerature fluxuation and a unique baffle system at the rear of the kiln. The sun also brings out the range of colors on the vase ranging from greys, blues, corals, faint iron reds and even peach tones creating a pointilist style expression written across the planes, angles and curves of the form. Late afternoon is a great time to look at pots after a day of throwing, tooling or glazing making me look forward to tomorrow where the process starts all over again.