FRACTURED ICE

What a wondrous thing that glazes can be, whether they are naturally occurring or composed like some alchemists symphony, the possibility and effects are endless. When I really think about glazes is that they have the distinct possibility to present defined galaxies within their surfaces painting ominous and somber realms to those of great visual intensity as if a sun has gone supernova within them. Though there are a great number of stellar pots that bare no glaze and submit to the viewer as naked form, there are an equal number that are only completed with the addition of glaze and decoration adding depth and profundity to the canvas that is clay. Illustrated is a close up of a rich and evocative kannyu style seiji glaze that almost radiates the cold like the fractured ice that it seemingly imitates. I find these cracked and fractured surfaces to be mysterious and compelling leading me along in a narrative that the potter, clay and glazes has created. In this case, this detail shot is of a tall and elegant bottle-vase made by Minegishi Seiko only a few years ago of tapering form with lobes running vertically accentuating the stature of the piece and the glaze which descends into the depression; a perfect meld of the Chinese archetype and the Japanese interpretation. More images to follow.