ALONE AGAIN (NATURALLY?)

The end of the year always seems a chaotic time in the studio, rushed drying, decorating and firing and in the aftermath is usually a total wreck. I went down in the studio this weekend, my first time in almost a week to get a bisque kiln loaded and get things straightened up and put away to find my 20+ year old clock had met its demise and a single, solitary glazed teabowl on slab roller, a staging point for finished pieces to get loaded in to the kiln. Sitting there alone, I had tried every trick in the book to get it in to the last kiln but no amount of rearranging or space sorcery was going to get the job done.

Sitting idle, waiting to be fired, this teabowl is next to the bowl I use to collect excess glaze cleaned off the foot ring and despite appearances, there are actually three glazes on this bowl, two very, very thin layers and a thicker Oribe base glaze. Every now and again, I collect up all the contents of the bowl and mix it thoroughly in to a wet glaze and test it out of which several have worked out to make very cool accent glazes though never repeatable and only in batches of 1000 to 2000grams one of which I used on an earlier version of my Oribe until it was fully depleted. Now that the bisque kiln is loaded, a tiny bit loose I should add, this glazed teabowl should fit in the next glaze firing and not find itself alone again, naturally or otherwise.

AS TIME GOES BY

Illustrated is a vivid gosu tabi-chawan with a classic floral motif decorated on the front and back of the bowl by Kawai Takeichi. Besides being a rather nice piece and certainly a quintessential Takeichi pot, this particular piece has an interesting, at least to my wife and I, back story. This piece is the first Japanese pot we bought off the internet in 1998, a piece we spotted on a Japanese website and decided to try emailing the dealer with what seemed like no success at the time. The email I sent to this dealer was in English with a few cobbled together Japanese written phrases but hours turned to days which in turn grew into months. Then one day, out of the blue and almost three months after our email inquiry we received an invoice email from the dealer for under $90 shipped at the time we were instructed to pay using an International Postal Money Order (IPMO) which we had to track down and order at our local Post Office.

After a week we received the IPMO, mailed it off to the dealer in Japan and about six days later we received an email from the dealer letting us know the pot was shipped by EMS and here was the tracking info. It was obvious that the dealer had used some sort of translation program as the English was not great though far better than my Japanese and here is what really stuck out from the email, it ended with this cryptic phrase and I quote; "never push an alligator" as did nearly all of his emails for the next several years. You always tend to remember those firsts but I will admit, I doubt I will ever forget that phrase and will forever wonder, what exactly does it mean, I am hoping it was intended as some sage advice or practical wisdom as I can image the outcome involving said alligator being somewhat less than positive.

SEASON'S GREETINGS

We wanted to take a moment to wish all a very Happy Holiday and Season's Greetings from this end of the computer keyboard, including Khan who has dictated this message this year as his lack of opposable thumbs makes typing something of a chore.

QUALITY CONTROL

I found this photo on the web a number of years ago, it may have been taken by Tsukigata Akihiko, son of Nahiko though I am not exactly sure. Despite being a bit blurry and it does not exactly enlarge very well it is clear exactly what you are looking at, quality control at a very human level. The photo clearly shows Tsukigata Nahiko breaking up a serving bowl while seated in front of a growing pile of shards with several larger pots behind an iron kettle hanging from a jizai-kagi. Like every potter who goes through this process of deciding what pots should be broken, it is clear by Tsukigata's expression that this is a painful process seeing pots that came from nothing but a lump of clay and then were nursed through the throwing, bisque, glazing and firing process meeting the hammer.

What I can say about this process from my own personal experience is that though there is nothing positive about this other than making sure the wrong pots don't get out, this is an absolutely necessary part of the process and I have broken more pots then I care to remember. I suspect the exact same sentiment, that of anguish and acceptance is most likely the case of what was going through the mind of Tsukigata Nahiko as the sound of the hammer on ceramic shattered the otherwise peaceful tranquility of the studio.

THE CASE OF THE CURIOUS KABIN

The post title might be a bit kitschy but the truth is this is a rather curious kabin (vase). This particular vase is described as Ki-Seto, well actually Oni Ki-Seto to put a fine point on it and truthfully doesn't necessarily look like most pots of that tradition but then again, when has Tsukigata Nahiko walked along the path of traditional absolutes? This photo comes from a catalogue from 1972 or 1973, I don't remember which and is representative of the Oni infused Ki-Seto that Tsukigata was making at the time ranging from very traditional aburage style Ki-Seto to mustard tinged yellows to rich, deep surfaces like this and a number of variations in between. Though this does not immediately conjure up the thought of Arakawa style Ki-Seto, it is clearly a potter determined to not only redefine conventions but also blazing his own unique style with an Oni flair. I should mention that I have seen two very classic Ki-Seto chaire and a chawan by Tsukigata and if and when I can find the photos I will post them. In the mean time, enjoy yet another page to the tradition of modern Ki-Seto pottery or as modern as 1972 gets these days now nearly fifty years later.

"The proper words in the proper places are the true definition of style."  Jonathan Swift

BOX TOPS

In an effort to see what else I could make out of this Ao+ glazed squared teabowl I decided to make a wood lid to fit the piece and then finished it with a ceramic knob. In a way, the teabowl has been repurposed in to a covered box form, loosely based on old Haida bentwood boxes but in truth, given the form and scale of the piece it still can function as a teabowl, a vase, covered box, utensil or pen/ pencil holder so in many respects, repurposed is not quite the right term. Thrown out of stoneware, altered square, thick slipped, black slip decorated and Ao+ glazed, the form is finished with a roughly cut wood lid that was painted a glossy black before having the ceramic knob attached with two metal pins and epoxy. I have made a handful of these pieces with wood lids now and though it is both relaxing and challenging to work with wood, I doubt I will make a habit out of it as it is both space and labor intensive. I think maybe I should stick with clay.

SUMMA TOTALIS

What is more striking than a snowy hakeme mizusashi punctuated by bold brush stroke splashes of iron? Well, I guess with enough time you could come up with something or at the very least comparable examples but this casually slipped pot with almost Zen influenced or inspired iron explosions makes for a rather dramatic piece with both pleasure and purpose in mind. I have been aware of Kon Chiharu's slipware work for some time though his Shigaraki pottery comes to mind much quicker but his skillful use of slip, oxide and a thin clear glaze makes for an excellent counterpoint to the ferocity and subtleties of his wood fired work while clearly presenting just another facet of the potter and his skills. I really like the motion created with the simple act, or art of brushed on slip which is then punctuated, even stopped in its tracks by the bold use of the iron brushwork which appears to be equal parts of aggressive impact and thoughtful control. Though the components, the sum total of this pot are all simple from the form, functional lid and knob, application of slip and iron and the use of a thin glaze coating when you add them up the sum total is so much more than all of those parts.

George Saunders the writer said; "Character is the sum total of moments we can't explain" but as I have thought about that quote as it may pertain to pottery I have often thought that "a pot's character is the sum total of all those details and decisions that we just can't explain" and I think it applies when you realize the sheer complexity involved with the act and presentation of making simple pottery.

ONLY A GLIMPSE

Looking a bit like some dangling medieval emerald earring, this wonderfully placed drip is frozen in the moment straddling the realm between beauty and just an Oribe drip on a kiln shelf, I believe it chose wisely. Though not exactly a household name outside of Japan, the maker of this vase and this Oribe earring is Sone Yoshiyuki (b. 1951) of Toki in Gifu Prefecture where he grew up, studied pottery before setting up his own studio, the Yoshiyama Kiln in 1973. Sone grew up and was heavily influenced by many of the Mino traditional pottery styles and has a real penchant for Oribe as you may gather from this detail shot of one of his Oribe hanaire though his work is not entirely restricted to all things green. What I can say regarding the two dozen or so pots that I have seen by him is that he is heavily influenced by the archetypes and posturing of Momoyama Mino pottery but he has managed to infuse his pottery with a rather unique and lively atmosphere that is very much in the moment. Highly animated with well conceived glazing, his pots, especially his vases are studies in motion and running colors that capture one's attention and hold you fast to his marvelous greens painted on his modern medieval forms. Though only a glimpse, a detail of this vase, sometimes it is all of these wonderful details that keep a conversation going, on and on and soon with a few minutes of time on my hands, I'll put together a slideshow video of this vase.

"The distinctive colours of Oribe are those fresh greens which emerge together from the land of spring. This is what I strive to recreate. I am doing my best to capture the magnanimity of Mino and with a contemporary feel." Sone Yoshiyuki, a quote from the DIRECTORY OF THE MINO CERAMIC ART ASSOCIATION (1992)

ANOTHER FIRST

I have been at making pots for some time now and that includes the loading and firing of thousands of kilns, electric, gas, salt and wood and through all of that experience, I managed to stumble on yet another first. The other day, I fired off a bisque and the next morning I cracked the lid and put a four inch round post on the rim to prop open the kiln, I was on my way out to mail a group of packages and thought to get the cool on its way to cooling down. I got back to the kiln several hours later and as I was opening the kiln with my coat still on, it brushed the post which plummeted into the kiln with a resounding crash. Instead of just hitting a small blank, undecorated v-bowl or teabowl it managed to land on the wing of a new form I had made a week ago as a new Oribe glaze test. You can see the resulting damage in the photo and though I contemplated just going ahead and glazing it for the glaze reference, I decided against it as I really need the space provided I know the outcome of the pot itself, not the surface so I am firing a yunomi in its stead. I can't help but think that accidents will happen but this is another first I could have done without.

(Despite this momentary setback, I am not done with this idea and form and as soon as I have a few extra minutes I plan on throwing and building another.)

OGB

A while back I came across a group of early (and slightly longer) slideshow videos that I had made with a nice variety of pieces show cased including potters and pots that are not exactly household names in the West. This slideshow video is of a rather nice Iga hanaire that has a posture that almost looks as if the pot was about to buckle under the ferocity of the fire but somehow survived the process. Made by third generation Iga potter, Sakamoto Toshihito, the form is very well articulated with dramatic spatula work and a varied surface that shows the form off to the fullest. Beyond the animated character and defiant posture of this simple vase perhaps what most catches one's attention is the beautiful deep golden brown glass that has built up on the shoulder and ever so faintly about the rim of the mouth that literally dances in the sunlight. I'll let the video complete the narration of this enjoyable and very functional Iga pot.

ALL RISE

After writing my Monday post, I went and visited a group of Bill Klock teabowls that I have on a shelf, reminding myself about just how powerful and present simplicity can be. This illustrated Shino bowl is a classic piece by Bill, simple in its approach, form and glazing but the manner in which it was thrown, the use of subtle marks around the piece with a rough, folded over lip adding strength and focus to the pot all terminating in a powerful lift on a quickly cut pedestal foot quite frankly what clay was originally intended for. I should also mention that he really enjoyed using Shino thin where the fiery iron reds would come up bolstered by the spodumene in the glaze and allowing marks, impressed and inlaid stamps and other elements of the clay to show through the surface.

As for the initial ascent which begins as the clay meets table it is clearly about visual elevation, the bowl has the lift that I really love in a pot and for clay which blends function and aesthetics, this teabowl just says, "all rise" to my eye.

" I thought clay must feel happy in the good potter's hand." Janet Fitch (from WHITE OLEANDER)

PEDESTAL

I remember the first time that I met Bill Klock, it was the week before Thanksgiving and what seems a lifetime ago. Our first conversation lasted for well over an hour and concluded with an invitation to make pots, we talked about Leach, Hamada, Cardew and Kawai among others. While I was there, Bill showed me a group of recently tooled teabowls with this strong and graceful pedestal feet on pots meant for various Shino and temmoku glazes. I was impressed by the way the feet were cut and how they created this distinct shadow and visual, some appearing like they were in the midst of "take off" , a rather animated lift that each bowl possessed, they were all winners in my book. Over the years I have continued to be been drawn to the kodai of Hamada and Kawai and I am a huge proponent of a pedestal style foot with as much lift as seems the pot can handle.

Illustrated is a recently fired teabowl form of rather robust proportions perched atop a pedestal foot and heavily textured creating visual and tactile interest in the bowl. The glaze surface starts with my Oribe glaze to which I then add a variety of other glazes over to mottle and activate the overall appearance of the piece. Though I am certainly influenced by the great master of modern Japanese pottery at its core, I continually strive to find a hint of the posture, movement and energy that Bill seemed to handle with little effort and a lifetime of pottery making.

WHISKEY, NEAT

Quite a while back I posted up a picture and Youtube video of a rather nice Kojima Kenji Iga tokkuri and as luck would have it, another found its way here. It would seem as reticent as I am about collecting tokkuri and guinomi they just seem to make the journey to Central NY to unite with kindred spirits. This Iga tokkuri is different than the previous having a rather brighter surface which has a nice pale green ash surrounding the surface and gem like drips of bidoro where the pot was fired on its side from the thick opaque drip at the lip to the two about to meet like good old friends at the center of the piece. The tokkuri feels nice in the hand and is quite easy to use and the posture adds a bit of amused bravado to the pot inquiring after the users intentions. Now that these two Kojima Kenji tokkuri have met up I think that it may be destiny to find a few more guinomi to go with them for use most likely with whiskey rather than sake but I am willing to bet the potter wouldn't mind for what they are used but rather that they are used and enjoyed.

1:2 x 3:2= 砧

 

For just the briefest moment today, a sliver of sun came in through the back window on to the shelves on the wall and for just an instant, this pot peaked out from the shadows. Showing off a coating of all natural ash this anagama fired Iga kinuta vase shows off its simple surface that is composed of a myriad of subtle colors that make up this ice sheet compressed within the line of the shoulder and a border of charcoal from where the pot rested during the end of the intense wood firing. I really respond to the interaction between clay and Sun but in the end, the pot has to deliver the goods all on its own, the lighting is just the delivery system of the senses in this case. In terms of this mallet, this is likely one of the simplest and purest kinuta forms that I have seen by Furutani Michio, stripped down, slightly angled sides and neck the minimal amount of marks around the torso of the piece. Fired in presumably one of the best spot in his kiln, Furutani allowed the firing process to write a majority of the story across the surface of the pot which as with many of his pieces at first glance seems a simple story but like many a great work, it is the subtleties, the nuances and the variations in color and light that portray a much more vivid and complex narrative at which this potter excelled. Even in the shadows, it is easy to see the mastery of Furutani Michio on full display and easily recognizable as Iga at its modern best.

PLAYING A FORM

I took a few moments yesterday while in the midst of making terra cotta pieces for the holidays to continue to work out a design I have been playing around with for a short while. The form is roughly based on a Japanese small hand drum known as a kotsuzumi, these small hand held drums look a bit like an hourglass in shape and are used in Noh, Kabuki and Min'yo (Japanese folk music). So far, most of the pieces have been either covered jars or bottle forms so I decided to make a koro loosely based on a version of this form. The illustrated greenware koro was completed just an hour or so ago and is composed of several pieces put together, the base and slab bottom, the central portion and large wing were thrown as one piece and the lid and applied knob. I used a square motif to tie the pieces together first impressing groups of squares around the central portion and in the wing and lid, pierced squares as both decoration and to allow the incense aroma and smoke to escape the pot. I used the ration of 2:3 (6" and 9") for the width of the base to that of the wing as a jumping off point and obviously the proportions can be played with in future attempts, this being the first of the kotsuzumi-koro trials. I am likely to glaze this in Oribe and should it make it through the glaze firing, I will post up the finished results at some point in the future.

"Let cloud shapes swarm, Let chaos storm, I wait for form."  Robert Frost

HIROSHIMA SHINO

Illustrated is a rather attractive  and simple Shino chawan by Arimoto Kugen that has a seductive appearance with areas of overlapping glaze which alters the depth and texture of the  surface. The contrasting areas of white and blushed pink hues are punctuated by randomly applied iron spots that bring motion and visual interest to the bowl presenting an image reminiscent of a modern abstract painting. Arimoto Kugen (b. 1963) fell in love with Shino early on in his life and didn't let living in Hiroshima stop him from his pursuit to make fine Mino influenced Shino-yaki. As you can see from this E-Shino chawan, Arimoto has succeeded at his dream of making fine Shino and has focused on form, function and a certain sense of practicality in his pottery making which makes for fine implements for the tea ceremony, everyday use and focal points for daily contemplation.

You can see more of this chawan over at my Trocadero marketplace; https://www.trocadero.com/stores/albedo3studio/items/1401087/SHINO-CHAWAN-BY-ARIMOTO-KUGEN

MORE THAN A THEORY

I was looking around the internet and though I may be a bit late to the realization, the web is truly a remarkable place, you can find and see things that just a few short years ago would have taken quite a bit of effort to do so. As my wife and I often remark, you are always just one click away from something you weren't even looking for and enter, stage left, this photo. Obviously not my photo and not of the greatest quality as it was photographed behind glass is what appears to be a sizable bowl by Araki Mikijiro decorated in a similar manner to the one that I put up a while back. The form and glaze is very similar to the one I had here with only a very slight variation in the decoration. For a large number of potters there is a rather simple conclusion that most always applies, if you see one piece than it is quite likely there are quite a number more and this bowl certainly substantiates that this is more than a theory.

"A theory must be tempered with reality."  Jawaharlal Nehru

IS(N'T) THAT CLEAR?

I will admit, I have been a bit busy and thus remiss in regards to getting some overdue testing done. To that end, I was doing a line blend test a short while back and at the extreme of the tests was an attractive, ever so slightly (!) milky clear glaze that I have decided to act upon. Though this was an unexpected outcome, I have wanted to work out a less shiny clear that had some softness to its appearance and with any luck I can get there through this formula with a few tweaks along the way. I sat down and threw a few small teabowls and once tooled, I covered them in black and white slip to see how these extremes look under  the new glaze though I am going to run more test pods through the upcoming glaze fire before committing to making up 2000gr of the formula and the potential for just ruining the small bowls. It strikes me how differently I work today as opposed to the all in, devil may care attitude I had regarding the process when I started. I guess that every kiln load of liver ware (supposed to have been copper red), twister ware and other smashing failures reinforce the prudence, patience and multi-phase testing process are the best course of action to save time, energy, money and yes, even a few extra moments of sleep!

As you can probably tell from the before and after photo, the test came out a bit more milky (and blue) than expected. I think making up a small batch of this glaze has paid off and I suspect I know exactly how to get it to where I want it in the next glaze test. Simply put I will try two additional variations, one in which the glaze is just used in a thinner consistency and the other in which I alter the gerstley borate quantity. With any luck, I should get pretty close to what I am after in the next round of testing.

"Cats have it all, admiration, an endless sleep and company only when they want it."  Rod McKuen

STORYTELLER

Every now and then I am reminded of some of the great potters who left us well before they should have, some were on the brink of greatness and others had clearly show their genius. Of the pivotal potters on this list, I often think of Bizen master, Kaneshige Michiaki whose work spans both tradition and contemporary expression where the manner in which he handled and used clay and his exceptional firing created objects that set a standard that all potters can strive to. I should also say that I have been rather fortunate to handle quite a number of Michiaki's pots over the years including at two shows* of his work in Japan in the early 1990s, though I must be honest and say they have all be his more traditional work geared around tea ceremony. I have not handled the chawan in this screen grab from an early 90s video series on Japanese potters but I can say this chawan is a classic piece in form and firing that as it rotates in the video presents a clear picture as to the form, posture and firing of an intoxicating bowl.

Even in this photo and in fact the video, the lyrical posture and animated movement of the form is an excellent canvas for Kaneshige Michiaki's well considered and experienced firings. This chawan just invites the viewer to participate in its narrative, asking you to come along on a journey as the potter and clay as storyteller weaves the past and present into a thoroughly enjoyable ceramic experience; it is quite easy to imagine this chawan letting you know, "I have a story to tell and it is a doozy".

SOULMATES?

I recently had this Nishiura Takeshi Echizen tokkuri here before send it on its international journey to finally be connected with a long, lost soulmate. Just waiting to be filled this Nishiura guinomi makes a great companion to the tokkuri with surfaces that show off Echizen wood firing in quite a good light. despite the fact that the internet has draw everything much closer together, like a huge electronic Pangaea, putting together sets from disparate locations has become the norm provided you can find the pieces in the first place. Though obviously both originated in Echizen, Japan, the tokkuri has taken a more circuitous route to the new owner than has the guinomi which came from potter, to gallery and then on to its new home.

The tokkuri's path is a bit more nebulous though it did travel about Japan before coming through a number of US States before it arrived in my hands and then on to presumably the last leg of its international journey. I realize these details regarding the travels and stopovers are of little or no consequence to most but I find the migratory patterns of pottery to be quite interesting as well as the motivations behind the push to get these pottery objects to move along in the first place. The current owner of the tokkuri had an interesting phrase, "catch and release" for pots and collectors who own pieces for a time and then pass them along to their new homes. The one point that I can interject regarding "catch and release" is that as both potter and collector having the ability to see and study a far reaching and ever changing group of pieces is always an enjoyable experience and it saves just a bit on airfare and rail passes to Japan.

Photo courtesy of a collector abroad.

THIS VETERAN'S DAY

I wanted to take a moment during these unsettled times to thank all of our Veteran's for the lasting sacrifice and defense of our Nation without whom we would all be the lesser but for their service.

LEST WE FORGET  (BertonBraley)                                                                                                

Our dead rest on the breast of France

And all around the world

Where by war's grim or splendid chance

Our banners were unfurled:

So whether here or overseas

Their bodies chance to lie,

We pay full honour unto these

Who did not fear to die.

Because they dared, because they died

We and our nation live,

Our liberty, our hope, our pride

Were gifts that they could give:

And since for all these gifts the price

Was life -- they held life cheap

And blithely made the sacrifice

And laid them down to sleep.

O, dead of many wars, who fought

With spirit high and pure,

The noble structure that you wrought

Shall evermore endure!

You held your country's cause above

All else: we, unafraid,

Will keep your country worthy of

The price you gladly paid.

MIXED METHODS

Back in March I mentioned the end of a Syracuse institution when Eureka Craft Gallery closed its doors. I admit it was hard to accept having been the longest continuous craft gallery that represented my work from 1992 to 2019 and it also meant that I had no gallery representation in that area. Several months back, Amy, a former employee of Eureka and the single person responsible for turning my wife and I on to a great bakery contacted me and ask if I would show in her gallery which she was planning on opening in August or September. I told her I would be happy to and delivered a group of pots to her in September and got to see her new space known as MIXED METHODS. In certain respects MM takes some of its cues from Eureka, not only filling a void left by the gallery closing but bringing a all that she had learned to a new, streamlined and crisp gallery setting while also espousing some "newer" concepts into a social media savvy age. MIXED METHODS is primarily focused on providing well made and unique items and objects in eight various mediums including; pottery, wood, fiber, glass and wood presenting a rich variety catering to all types of collectors and gift givers in a wide range of prices.

As the gallery progresses and takes root in the area the goal is to ultimately include evenings with "Meet the Artists" as well as trunk shows and other special events, one step at a time. The following was included in a recent email from MIXED METHODS owner, Amy; "I wanted to create a place to showcase artists' work from across the country. There are so many talented artists and 'neat' small businesses and I wanted to be able to have a place where someone could find creative, original and well made pieces - whether as a gift or something special for yourself. " In the end, "I decided to open a shop to continue to offer artists' items to the Syracuse area." From my experience what I can say about Amy and MIXED METHODS is she has excellent taste in pastries which I am sure will extend to those things carefully considered for her gallery and this new destination just makes another excellent reason to visit Syracuse located dead smack in the center of NY State. MIXED METHODS  can be found at 215 East Water Street (Rear) in Syracuse.
 


https://letsgetmixed.com/



  https://www.instagram.com/letsgetmixed/

PERSONAL SPACE ISSUES

Illustrated is a close up detail of a Kumano Kuroemon Echizen vase that I received a while back, the photo that is. At first glance it may seem like the photographer has personal space issues but the truth is, getting to see details and nuances that you never get from a standard group of display or sales photos, it is exactly these types of images that add meat to a short treatise on the piece creating a broader narrative from pot to viewer. During the intense Kumano firing, this unglazed piece built up a nice coating of ash which over time melted and created a characteristic Echizen blue ash run that mingles with and within the dark, brownish bidoro which finds its origins in a calcium rich environment. Looking at this photo you can't help but me intrigued by the heavy throwing rings, marks circling the neck; traces of the potter's intense and quick struggle with the clay that along with the dynamic surface are locked in a Promethean battle for the rest of time (or as long as the molecular structure of the ceramics stands up against time).

ONE AT A TIME?

Last week I mentioned that I had settled on and made a number of groups of pieces to go to Connecticut in November. Among the styles selected is a small group of plum blossom pieces which includes a square tray form and misc. bowls and this picture is of them just recently decorated and detailed with sgraffito to outline each blossom. I like working in groups as it makes more sense to decorate ten similar pieces at a time then just one at a time, completing them as singular pots. Normally I try to get as many pots of a particular style going at the same time, normally I can get about twenty pieces or so laid out and going from one to another I can get each element completed so that by the time I am ready to incise the details around each leaf or blossom, the surfaces are nearly dry which is the best time for the sgraffito. I currently have a fair amount of pots drying that will need to be decorated but at the moment getting these smaller groups of falling leaves and plum blossom pieces completed gets me one step closer to getting everything buttoned up.

AN ALTERNATIVE VIEWPOINT

I took a few photos the other day of various pieces hanging around and came up with this alternative viewpoint of a rather nice Kakurezaki Ryuichi tokkuri. I realize that i posted this tokkuri up on my blog back in April but if you compare the two photos you can see how different the same piece can look with various variables affecting the image. In this photo there the surface texture running down the piece and the variety of natural ash effects tell a fuller story of the pot. I am a huge proponent of constantly re-photographing pottery in various lighting, different moods behind the lens and with additional cameras if possible. Over the years I have collected up quite a few digital images and love to revisit the folders for each pot to not only remind me of subtleties I may have forgotten but also to discover nuances that I may have missed previously. In this photo it is clear that the twilight illumination was just the right time and thing to bring out details that may have escaped this tokkuri's first encounter with my camera.

日

If I had only waited a day or two, I would have posted this photo of the Takahashi Wasaburo vase that recently made its way here. As you can see in this photo, the Sun decided to make an appearance and to my eye brought out the real character (and perhaps the best) of the pot and certainly the truer nature of the glaze combination. The sparkling kannyu surface shines through the iron variegated surface making for a rich and complex portrait that wraps around the entirety of the vase making for a rather exotic spectacle. When I first unboxed this pot I couldn't help but think of all of the wild and imaginative textures and colors of the creatures from the movie AVATAR and though I suspect the actual source for the film was the abundant diversity of nature of all types and form it would not surprise me if somewhere up on a shelf one of the pre-production designers had a handful of pots, among them perhaps one similar to this.

(I hope you don't mind all these detail pictures and sunlight photos but in many respects, capturing pots in varying circumstances and conditions can lead to a better understanding of what a piece actually looks like. How many people have received a pot that just doesn't look like its photo, jeez that sounds like what I keep hearing about internet dating!)

TWO-PARTER

Illustrated is a rather straight forward "falling leaves" vase that is a standard form that I make. This form is not really very complicated and it works well with various decoration on the surface and in this case the random use of the leaves includes inside the trumpet mouth and also on the foot. Perhaps the most complicated thing about this pot is that it is a two-parter, the base and neck are thrown separately in series, perhaps six bases and six necks and then they are matched up and looted together at which time the lugs are attached and each piece goes on for specific surface treatments from carved tebori, abstrakt resist, b&w slip or this treatment of random falling leaves. Perhaps the trickiest aspect of this design is that the slips are put on while the clay is wet and then the sgraffito is done once the clay is close to bone dry; using a large black foam sheet about 12" x 12" x 5" the vase is carefully carved to define the leaves. As I said this form and technique aren't really all that complicated, it just takes the right touch and timing to keep the piece from becoming more a two-parter again.

IT'S A SQUARE DEAL

I put together a rather short slideshow video to give a perspective of what this kaku-kinuta hanaire by Wakao Toshisada looks like in three dimensions. The thrown and squared up vase has a  surface of rather beaded pure white Shino with accents on the face and side of the form with rather vivid facets running from down the piece on the neck and the body. This vase is a rather distinctly simple piece without any extras depending rather on a solid and classic form, a certain blend of subtlety, austerity and strength and excellent proportions  which at the end of the day are all that is necessary to bring in and captivate an audience.

SURFACE TENSION

I have written about the maker of this interesting mallet style vase before, Takahashi Wasaburo who made the very first (real) chawan that my wife and I ever collected. Though in many respects this vase is rather different than our chawan, the depth and complexity of the surface is very similar with a base glaze of a kannyu style seiji that was dipped in a rich, deep, dark red iron glaze and then the potter let the firing and surface tension take over. The application of the two glazes and temperature have conspired to create a rather exotic and visually complex surface that conjures up some alien texture that has the viewer scanning the piece in an effort to make some distinct sense out of the pattern.

In some respects, this pot has an almost camouflaged appearance that takes a determined eye to read the fullness and motion of the form from the contrary tapers of body and neck to the soft, intentional depressed flutes around the piece. Depending on the light source the underlying seiji glaze sparkles creating a rich visual narrative of iron and feldspar presenting a unique and three dimensional landscape with the well thought out form as its canvas. Though this appears to be a rather unusual surface by the potter, I suspect that in order to get to this point in creating a surface, there has to be others, perhaps even a large number of these pots and with any luck, the next one that shows up (especially a chawan) will end up in a small town in central New York State.

IT'S THE TIME OF THE SEASON

As I have mentioned before, because I work in three distinct temperature ranges, I normally work in cycles specific to each though there are times I make stuff and slip it in a bisque and set it aside for another time. In this case, here is a group of "Falling Leaves" decorated pieces that are part of a group that will make their way to southern Connecticut in November along with a similar group of plum blossom pieces  as well. In each case I made a group of bowls and a square tray form that go together which lets me bring a cohesive group that works together and for the larger group it will include tebori, abstrakt resist, plum blossoms, falling leaves and winter berry designs. This illustrated group is freshly decorated and was loaded in to a bisque kiln which I will fire tomorrow. I am trying to keep on top of things to prevent the enviable backlog as long as possible and while firing the kiln tomorrow I will throw in the morning and decorate pots in the afternoon, it is time to plan out my time to its best measure, a skill I am still not all that fond of or good at.

SUNSHINE ON MY SHOULDER

Seemingly basking in the sunlight this vase is one that I had taken photos of some time back and only recently revisited them to build a slideshow video. While originally photographing the pot, I must have snapped a photo of the piece in sunlight and found it in the folder with the rest of the images. This photo gives a whole different  perspective of the interaction between clay, Shino, iron, ash with a cameo by the Sun making for a rather intense look in to the nature of not only the mallet vase but the qualities, varying effects and subtleties of the surface. What I really like about this pot is that at its core it mimics a functional object, the wood mallet and in doing so, blanketed in its own, unique wood grain of sorts, it has become a distinct functional object standing on its own. Through the process of using not only the original clay archetypes, it relies on the weathered and well used wooden origins of which it is quite easy to see in this form even through the earthy, honest surface.

Made by Mino potter, Nakajima Ichiyo (b.1949) of the Ikko-gama in Toki City, his pottery is a mixture of purely functional works, chadogu and pots that push the boundaries of his Momoyama influences. Much of Nakajima's work revolves around Oribe, Shino, Seto-Guro and Ki-Seto of which this Shino mallet vase is a good example in which the potter has skillfully navigated the use of a variety of materials to create a piece that goes well beyond the norm. With the sunshine on the shoulder of the pot a vivid picture is painted of what is possible with a handful of clay, materials, fire and perhaps just a bit of serendipity sprinkled in for good measure.