THIS OR THAT?

I think when discussing a specific work by a potter it is easy to say that he isn't known for this or that instead of saying that his is best known for whatever they are known for. I think I made this simple mistake a week or so back when I was writing about this very cool mizusashi made by veteran ceramic artist, Morino Taimei. While it is safe to say that Morino is best known for his predominantly blue based or iron red based vessels, he is in fact known to have made a number of chawan and mizusashi over the years. In this case using several glazes and wax resist, Morino has made a typical smaller form with a classic design using overglaze enamel and luster to create a decoration he is well known for. The surface is a well articulated balance of the pebbly black and grey green with the resisted area up on the shoulder nicely defining the face of the pot and adding a nice sense of irregularity to the form. Though this Morino mizusashi has already moved on to a new home it was a pleasure to handle, study and photograph and the visit will linger despite its three dimensional absence.

JUST RIGHT

Looking a bit like ripe persimmons hanging off an impromptu bamboo trellis, the design on this chawan reminds me of the work of Ishiguro Munemaro but is clearly the inspired decoration of the multi-talented Uchida Koichi (b.1969). I enjoy Uchida's works quite a bit and there is a lot to enjoy as his forms, surfaces and styles are quite varied and he is equally skilled at most of what he attempts and this chawan is certainly a textbook example. The form, glaze and decoration are in such harmony with each other it is simply a perfect bowl right down to the well dressed kodai and his choice of clay, everything is just right. The foot is thrown and cut in such a way to create a wonderful lift for the form and emphasizes the negative space under the main portion of the bowl leading the eye to the slight irregularity of the form and wandering mouth. I am captivated by the rich decoration which could have easily been created by a much earlier potter but was captured by a modern potter who is as dedicated to the old as he is the new and it shows in his work.

CLASS PHOTO

I had forgot that I had taken this photo until I was looking around for a photo to send to a potential customer and thought I would post it. This group was all made at about the same time and fired in back to back glaze firings in and about the kiln to fill spaces in some unique ways due to their varying shapes. This photo reminds me on one of those obligatory class photos from back in grade and high school and gives a good perspective of the various forms and surfaces that I managed to create while making other more tried and true pots that filled the kiln. Though these forms deviate just a bit from the thrown round, I wonder what forms to work on next; dodecahedron, octahedron, or possibly the holy grail, the icosahedron teabowl!

POLYCHROMATIC

Okay, I can hear a number of people going, what the heck am I looking at and understandably so. I have had this piece sitting on a shelf that gets indirect light from a light in the hallway and as you walk in the room, this is what you see, shimmering back at you from the dark room like some image beamed back from the Hubble telescope. What you are actually looking at is a detail shot of a Matsuzaki Ken Yohen-Shino mizusashi which has created a surface which is a contrast of a thick snowy white feldspar Shino and areas of nebulus iridescence that shows up under the right lighting conditions otherwise it looks like an iron rich, almost caramel colored Shino glaze. There is never a dull moment with this surface as it changes with every degree of angle it is viewed at and is painted through a fierce determination of the will of the potter and the demanding and ferocious nature of the kiln firing stoked by various woods and charcoal. I am a huge fan of complex surfaces that give the viewer not only a lot to think about but a great amount of conversation regarding pot and process, though many pots can be much ado about nothing, this Matsuzaki Ken pot is certainly not one of those.

IS LESS MORE?

I'll start out by saying that I am not 100% sure where this photo comes from and if it is "yours" I apologize for using it and also thank you for putting it up on the web. I was struck by the sheer simplicity and power of this wondrous Koie Ryoji mizusashi which is unfettered with detail or contrived detail, it is pure form, adorned only with a rich glaze and his classicly incised decoration. The glaze paints this pot creating a simple narrative with points of extreme interest where the glaze has pooled to create almost mysterious areas of contemplation and focus. I have always been mesmerized by Koie's inate ability to say so very much with what at times appears to be so little but as you really study his pottery and this piece in particular, there are details and subtlties that are easy to miss and it is here that he excells. I am reminded that it is easy to make grand and bold statements that act like diversions but subtlty, simplicity and honest gestures can make a pot that is far more captivating and compelling and the conversation all the richer for it if you just stop and "smell the roses" every now and again.

NOTHING FANCY

It's another Monday, the beginning of the second week of a new cycle so I started the day throwing several varieties of bowls including this meduim size serving bowl. After throwing a group of eight bowls it really dawned on me just how many bowls I have made in my time making pots and that is excluding teabowls. I have always made a great number of bowls from two to ten pounds followed by covered serving bowls and plates of all sizes, I don't think I can even guess at this point how many I have made. Going way back to my days at CSU I can remember days where I was all caught up on my tasks as ceramic assistant to fill a number of 8' long folding tables with bowls, at least 40 but likely quite a bit more. I am not bragging as I certainly know there are potters who make way more stuff than I ever will, I am only reflecting on how the bowl form is so elemental and essential to both potters and those that use them. It seems that everyone needs bowls, everyone uses bowls and by making hand made bowls it keeps at least a small percentage of the world from using plastic or commercially manufactured pieces. I am realistic enough to understand not everyone wants a hand thrown ceramic bowl but at some place in the back of my mind I believe that an object made by hand can at the very least bring some measure of beauty and contact between material, maker and user that has helped nurish the world for thousands of years. I would like to think that my bowl, ready to be cut off the wheel head is in some way a small part of that tradition.

IN THE STYLE OF AND THEN SOME

I really enjoy the pottery of Kawai Takeichi (Bu'ichi), not because like many collectors I can not afford Kawai Kanjiro's work but rather because I see his pieces as an extension and continuation of the ideal and ideas that his master is so well known for. I suspect that many pottery students rely on copying or creating works in the style of but Kawai Takeichi saw the heights of his teacher as a challenge and deciding to work within the confines of the Kawai-mon, tradition, he managed to create pieces which are not copies but rather are unique to the potter and still maintain a visual that is recognizable for where they sprung. This wonderful gosu blue koro is an excellent example of Kawai Takeichi's work, style, idea, form and surface are easily to identify but it clearly falls within the unique confines of the style and school which his master is so well known for. Though a simple koro, there are complex, small details that display the mastery of this particular ideal and dedication to function and the mingei movement while showing off a sense of design particular to Takeichi and the Japanese aesthetic. There are a lot of reasons why I thoroughly enjoy Kawai Takeichi's pottery and this small gosu koro is just about all the reason that I need.

HOW DID I GET HERE?

Like a simple set up for a comedy routine or a music video, you can ask yourself, what do you get when you take a simple form, a ferocious firing and one such possible outcome is this lean Matsuzaki Ken vase. Showcasing a variety of wood fired effects, this simple yet elegant form is exceptionally well fired without hiding any of the defining lines or cluttering up the surface allowing for the idea and grace of the pot to be easily visible to the viewer. Having wood fired a number of times myself, I can say that though you may have a sense of where pots should be placed in the kiln, every firing is different and as such the surface comes out based on a wide array of factors that are not totally in the control of the potter, the fire has way too much sway over the outcome. That being said, this Matsuzaki vase is just as close to being perfectly fired as possible with its surface painted by fire and ash to stellar effect. The shoulders and side of the pot have a wonderful build up of ash that creates a lot of variation in one many may refer to as "another brown pot" with hints of the surface treatment articulating the surface where a sureform tool or rasp was used to help defing the angles and planes of the piece. As the song goes, with the somewhat random end result in question, "how did I get here?" and the answer is a mastery and dedication to a violent and labor intensive process and a great sense of form.

VARIOUS FACETS

I mentioned last week that in an effort to work out this faceting idea that I had also made several other pots including bowls and vase forms. Illustrated is a medium size bowl that was faceted rather directly with a standing ridge dividing the form in half horizontally that had just come off the wheel head. One of the things that I like about this technique is that it creates a number of hard lines and areas that will break and/ or trap glaze making for a richer surface using my temmoku, Oribe or iron yellow letting the throwing and faceting being the only decoration that is necessary. Like other pieces before this one, I will facet the foot, finishing it in a hexagonal or octagonal shape with the interior tooled into a normal foot-ring, this helps tie the bowl and foot together. It may be obvious that this serving bowl is not quite as deformed or altered as the teabowl and water jar were, I thought a more straight forward form would make for a slightly easier to use pot while keeping the overall sensibilty that I was after intact in the form in other words, just the smallest nod to conservatisms which has never hurt anyone, has it?

EXEMPLUM

Archetype; the original pattern or model of which things of the same type are representations or copies, a perfect example

When looking at 20th century Shigaraki, Iga and Bizen pots in particular, it is quite clear just how many pieces are based on medieval archetypes mostly created during the Momoyama and early Edo periods. There are of course many exceptions especially as you look at the works of Kakurezaki Ryuichi, Kojima Kenji and others who though used these very same archetypes, they were used more as a framework and basis for their later work. The slideshow video I have posted here is a classic pot based on an archetype that many potters have tried their hand at and this one has that distinct feudal feel to it despite having been made in the last decade or two. Created by Imura Mitsuo (b.1946) this hanaire shows the classical influence of a much older pot along with hints of his master, Sugimoto Sadamitsu  showcasing a blend of a well fired face with the reverse showing off both hi-iro and the real honest nature of the clay,  tsuchi-aji in typical Ko-Shigaraki fashion. There are wonderful little details on this vase from running emerald green ash around the waist to a solitary deep, rich green bidoro drip perpetually suspended off the lip of this pot embued with a carefree, casual posture and character that spans the old to the new in only the time it takes to throw and fire the vase.

PARADIGMA

Now from time to time I have been accused of sometimes having rather alternative, even peculiar taste, in food, music, film, books and even pottery to which I always retort; "it is not peculiar, it is particular". I do know in various conversations, more often than not, there are those who are not huge fans of Kumano Kuroemon or Tsukigata Nahiko to name just a few, works that are on the fringe or are created by ecentric characters excercising their inner voice. I don't think this is necessarily any indictment of my preferences but rather a clear indication that there is a wide array of tastes, preferences and interests out there and this is just exactly what it takes to make the world go round.

One such alternative interest of mine is the works of Ota Minoru who made pots that he saw in his mind's eye and are rarely dedicated to a traditional ideal or archetype rather defining his own persuasive alternative paradigm. Ota's pots embody a sense of the casual, loosely thrown without a concern for many of the more practical aspects of pottery making which creates a body of unique and very idiosyncratic and often "quirky" in a good way pots. Case in point is this oddly thrown and distorted Shigaraki mizusashi which is obviously well fired with a rather traditional style surface but the pot is anything but. Looking just a bit like it is in the perpetual act of collapsing, this mizusashi has a wonderful posture and presence and I can see it easily being used in the tea ceremony or adorning a shelf. The lid easily compliments the body of the pot with an easy to use knob and covering the opening in its own non-chalant manner pronouncing that this piece is both a bit askew and distinctly purposeful all in the same breath.

LABOR DAY WIP

For Labor Day this year I thought I would share a work-in-progress of an idea that was much more labor than I expected. This idea came about in a rather curious way as I was looking at several teabowls upside down on a small cedar board that has been banging around the studio all the way back to Cleveland. I was looking at the bowl and wondering if I could make a lid like I have seen on Haida bentwood boxes and decided to give it a try. I am sure that right off it is clear I am no wood worker and using the tools at hand; a saw, wood file, wood chisel, an ancient ball peen hammer and sandpaper I decided to have at it. I have spared you a lot of the drudgery in terms of the slideshow but for a bowl that has very little time invested in it, the lid ended up being almost two hours of labor which included the three coat of polyeurathane to seal the wood. After the lid was completed, I made a group of knobs and settled in on two which were fired in a subsequent glaze firing. I choose the stupa style knob and attached it by using a metal pin that ran into the wood and ceramic knob with epoxy to hold it fast. As you may be able to tell, the lid is just a bit larger than the pot and is angled upward to give the lid some visual lift. Now I won't say this is the greatest feat of wood working ever but considering it was my very first attempt I am relieved that I did not cut myself, break the bowl or incur any unforseen calmity all in the pursuit of yet another out of the blue idea.