Friday, January 31, 2020

SHIGARAKI BY WAY OF ECHIZEN

I have had this conversation a number of times over the years, does a potter's location dictate what his pottery is or is labeled? I think of two potters neither of whom works in Shigaraki though there pottery is clearly Shigaraki-yaki; Tsuji seimei and Kon Chiharu. As you can guess there are a number of potters who make distinctively identifiable work though it is made somewhere outside of where the pottery is normally associated. Such is half the case in regards to this sweet little tokkuri as the box is labelled; ECHIZEN SHIGARAKI TOKKURI and was made and fired in Echizen using not Echizen clay but what appears to be a blend of Iga and Shigaraki clays with just the right amount of feldspar inclusions to light up the pot like a star filled evening. The tokkuri is somewhat light weight with a wonderful surface painted in various hues of ash and effects that are as pleasant to feel as they are to just look at all clearly created in a fierce, even ferocious process of the firing.

Made by a Karatsu and Echizen specialist, Miyoshi Kentaro (1953-2018), he first studied and worked in Karatsu before falling under the primal and alluring spell of Echizen-yaki. Miyoshi moved and worked in Echizen creating pottery of both distinct and seemingly polar opposites in terms of pottery, but clay is clay as is firing and he navigated the two tradition for the rest of his life. I should also note that Miyoshi's works were included in the Birmingham Museum of Art's exhibition and catalogue entitled; ECHIZEN; EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS OF JAPANESE STONEWARE (1995). It is clear in this Echizen-Shigaraki tokkuri that Miyoshi Kentaro enjoyed combining styles and traditions in a cohesive and ineligible manner and as you look at this little pot you can see, like a fine blended whiskey, the various flavors that make up this memorable outcome of his efforts.

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

PARTIAL ECLIPSE

Coming out of the shadows or even a bit like a partial eclipse, this thick and crazed feldspar vase reluctantly appears before the viewer presenting form and surface that paints an evocative landscape. There is something so ethereal and contemplative about the works of Yasuda Zenko that is unlike few others; these pieces are like connective tissue from mind to pure emotion and even a sense of totality. Filled with elegance and raw energy here that despite the deceptively simplicity of works of this style and nature, time falls away like melting snow and the complexities of life are narrated in three dimensions if you allow it to happen. I find there is a tremendous sense of solitude and solemnity imbued within the simple elements of clay and fire on display where a pot lives within the view and grasp of the observer. I can't honestly say that I know the intent and reason behind these drifting cloud pots by Yasuda but I can relate how they communicate with me even though I suspect the dialogue is presumably  just at its beginning.

Monday, January 27, 2020

RASHOMON?

This particular teabowl is the result of two tests one of which was a trial by fire if you will. The bowl was faceted or more correctly put, shaved using a splintered piece of wood that I pulled off of a quarter of split firewood and then just gently sharpened. I used this piece of wood to create quick and uneven facets around the bowl and it seems to have made an interesting texture. Once bisque, I used the bowl to continue on my path for Oribe (Kuro-Oribe) tests using spayed on manganese and iron over the glazed surface. Since I don't have a compressor and spray gun, I used one of those old fashioned atomizer style sprayers fueled by nothing but lung power which gave me a certain degree of control I am not sure i would have had otherwise. I set up a box, lined with newspaper and then covered my banding wheel in a plastic bag and went about spraying two teabowls that were intended as a test of the new glazing idea as well as how the faceting looked after it was fired. Here is the result under normal light and in mostly direct sunlight, both give their rendition of the story reminding me at times of Akutagawa's RASHOMON and truthfully, I am rather pleased at the various interpretations that differing lighting has on the surface.

                           

Friday, January 24, 2020

AS CLOSE AS

Once again I'll start out with the caveat that I have not handled this particular chawan but I have handled several in Ki-Seto, Kohiki, Seto-Guro and Shino over the years including a couple similar to this one. To get to the point, though I have been incredibly lucky to handle two dozen pots by Arakawa Toyozo, for the vast majority of people this Toyoba Seiya Ki-Seto chawan is as close as one normally can get to handling the work of his master. If you really study this chawan what is striking about the bowl is the similarities but not slavish imitation of the form, using both clay and glaze that resemble that of Arakawa it becomes very clear that though not by the master, both master and pupil have based their pots on ideals and archetypes that have a great deal in common.
Though there is nothing slight about the form, there is a distinct robustness to Arakawa's chawan that few modern potters can capture and to be clear, I am not talking about size or scale. It is very easy to see the corollaries between Arakawa and Toyoba having been master and pupil, not to mention in-laws as well but there are certain subtleties and nuances that set each apart from one another. In the end, I believe very few have the creative capacity to make chawan that would stand up as competition to Arakawa but Toyoba's works are a very worthy successor to his master and I suspect many of the various subtleties that one sees that distinguishes the one from the other are the intentional voice of a pupil finding his own way out of the shadow of the master a task at which I think he has succeeded quite well.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

BLACK IN BACK

I received this large and rather colorful chawan by Ogawa Tetsuo about a week ago and it has been hanging around on the shelf as it was put up on Trocadero for a fellow collector. Ogawa Tetsuo is a dedicated potter who specializes in working with slips and Korean slipware of which this chawan is a classic example of his kohiki pottery. The chawan showcases a rather broad spectrum of colors and other visual textures including large gohonde fawn spots and colors running from off white to pink, blue-grey and muted charcoal all under a translucent and waxy ash glaze. I had originally photographed this chawan using a white background which you can see on my Trocadero marketplace but decided to try using a black background to help bring out some of the various colors and textures that make up the surface to which I think it gives a slightly different if not better read narrative of what the bowl looks like. At the end of the day it really is quite a feat that so much can be done with so little in the way of clay and a few materials to produce a chawan imbued with character and rich in subtleties that few other potters can portray in a simple slipped teabowl.

You can see more of this chawan by going over to my Trocadero page; https://www.trocadero.com/stores/albedo3studio/items/1415069/LARGE-COLORFUL-KOHIKI-CHAWAN-BY-OGAWA-TETSUO

Monday, January 20, 2020

ON & ON


If you read my blog it probably is clear that I am determined to continue to tweak a glaze no matter how satisfied I was with it five minutes ago, on and on until it really can not be adjusted any more, think altered to the point of failure. For a couple of months now I have been playing with adding washes over may latest version of Oribe which has produced a number of different effects as both failures and successes. This small covered jar is the latest in a series of test that has come from some recent experimentation and I really like the droozy, weeping surface that is composed of metallic blacks and greys as well as silver and varying blues. This was the first pot that I tried this on that had smooth surfaces and little to no throwing marks and it still creates a rather active and lively surface. I took this picture in the sunlight because truthfully in normal or tungsten lighting the surface looks a bit dark and almost olive-brown but with the help of the Sun it just perks right up. I have also thrown a group of faceted teabowls that I will glaze up and fire next round and show the surface under several different light sources. For now, given the propensity for the surface to run, I am just thankful the glaze stayed on the pot and isn't now permanently attached to the piece of shelf it was fired on.

Friday, January 17, 2020

UNDOUBTEDLY

 

This illustration came from an auction catalogue from a number of years back, an auction we made the trek to preview the various lots but this chawan specifically. there was a tremendous amount of bowl packed in to this chawan with its wonderful presence, posture and surface, a modern pot that has undoubtedly stayed at the very top of my list all these years. obviously heavily influenced by the Momoyama masterpiece, MINE no MOMIJI, this chawan is a tour de force by Wakao Toshisada and a piece I rate extremely high among his body of work. I have handled a handful of Wakao chawan in this style but this was the shining example, the others were not decorated quite as expressively and lacked the movement and animation that is present in this piece, in fact as I look at this pot, I can't help but see its foundation, the clay still on the wheel, perched high atop a large hump of clay, still spinning as the potter inspects his work and glistening from the recent use of moisture to aid in the throwing process. Last but not least, the rich use of color under the muting glaze surface paints a rather feudal narrative that clearly connects past to present in a way that resonates beyond the context of the chawan and its perceived purpose. In the end there is little else that I can say but; wow!

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

DAI-KANNYU

Looking a bit like a scarred landscape from some distance above, the wonderful dai-kannyu effect (big cracks) on this Hagi guinomi read like an ancient treasure map of some far off locale. Added to the deep, textural fissures, the variety of colors play across the surface creating a rather complex and different landscape with every turn of this diminutive little pot. Though small in stature, this guinomi has all the power and character of larger pieces by Hagi master, Yamato Yasuo, the purpose and determination of the form and posture create a pot that welcomes use whether it is for sake or even M&Ms. This rich surface is a wonderful blend of both tactile and visual stimulation which can include the taste buds under just the right circumstances.

"Pleasure is a pillar to lean on,
sake in front of me,
comfortable company and the sound of mortar and pestle."  Hakuin

Monday, January 13, 2020

MONDAY ODDS & ENDS

Today is one of those days, a day to get odds and ends done including acting as a taxi service and dropping my wife off at the airport. As soon as I got home, I started firing the kiln which has two large test bowls, 4 slip test small tiles and a group of test pots included among the mix. As a last actual pottery related chore, I glazed up a porcelain test bowl in a commercial glaze that someone sent me as a gift and admittedly, I am curious what the results will actually look like. Before glazing up the bowl, I contacted the manufacturer's technical person and got a few suggestions as to how to use it as quite frankly, I rarely use any commercial glazes and I guess this particular one is a bit tricky.

With actual clay related tasks out of the way, I collected up and packed two small orders which includes a pair of cup and saucers and a group of four matching temmoku and ash 8" bowls using recycled or perhaps repurposed packing materials and boxes. As you can see the slab roller and clay scale are pulling double duty to get the close to actual shipping weight correct as the USPS is a bit touchy when it comes to any gross miscalculations. Once all packed up, I set up and printed two labels and scheduled a postal pick-up which makes tomorrow just a bit less busy. As you can tell, today was one of those days of multi-tasking and completing some odds and ends, all necessary and just part of my pottery week and what beats being busy to make Monday just a bit easier to manage.

 Did I mention my wife is out of town? That means a week of really bad, great cult movies!


Friday, January 10, 2020

PORTRAIT OF A PORTRAIT

Last week I received an email asking me about the Kaneshige Kosuke piece known as "Floating Object or Portrait" that I had put up on my blog that in the photo somewhat resembles something out of an old horror or science fiction movie. The emailer asked if I had taken any more "conservative" pictures of the piece and of course I had, well over a hundred in fact. Illustrated is a face on, overall photo of the sculptural piece that I think gives a rather clear picture of the Bizen object for which Kaneshige is well known. The surface has just the right firing to bring out the details and crisp cuts and edges of the piece allowing all of the clay and texture to come front and center which adds a bit of tension and even drama to the work. I hope this portrait of the Portrait is what was asked for and maybe in the future I will collect up the photos and put together a short video slideshow of what is arguably a rather fine and thoughtful work by a modern mainstay of Bizen who is known to have strayed outside the box now and again.

You can see the original post and photo by following the attached link; https://albedo3studio.blogspot.com/2019/04/plumbing-depths.html

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

ONI-KI-SETO

A while back I posted up a rather unorthodox Ki-Seto kabin by Tsukigata Nahiko that was made around 1972 or so. As I mentioned in the blog, the surface doesn't necessarily conjure up a text book definition of the style so I took a picture out of the ONI-SHINO book, also circa 1972 to give a more classical example of Ki-Seto which Tsukigata has termed, Oni-Ki-Seto. Despite the creative moniker, this chawan certainly subscribes a bit more to the tradition and it is clear in form and surface that this is clearly influenced by historical archetypes and the works of his master, Arakawa Toyozo while there is no denying that this bowl is distinctly the product of Tsukigata's creative and fertile aesthetic. I love the power of the form and undulating lip and the richness of the surface with areas of thicker, built up ash deposits and the emphasis on the verticality of the chawan written in the streaking, running glaze. I really like this chawan for the blend of simple and complex and should we ever meet, I hope it is neither bashful nor offended by PDA*.

(* Pottery Displays of Affection)

Monday, January 6, 2020

TK No2 (TAKE TWO)

Having a few minutes the other day, I went ahead and made another kotsuzumi influenced koro and admittedly it doesn't pay to just make one piece when trying out a new idea. The construction of the piece was just like the previous one but I altered the proportions a little to get a slightly different form which includes four pierced squares in the knob to mimic the pierced and impressed devices around the piece. Destined for my Oribe glaze with a wash over the surface I am looking forward to seeing what this looks like finished and how the glaze/wash combo responds to the sloping surfaces. As before, I will certainly not count my chickens before the eggs are hatched but if this makes it and no clumsy kiln loaders or unloaders get handsy than I will post a picture of the finished pot when it (fingers crossed) makes it across the finish line.

"The place where optimism most flourishes is in the lunatic asylum*." Havelock Ellis

(* Sometimes known as a pottery studio.)

Friday, January 3, 2020

THE FULLER STORY

A while back I posted a sunlit photo of a Shino mallet vase by Nakajima Ichiyo and I finally got around to building a slideshow video of the vase. As you can see the extremely simple form but good, classic proportions are a perfect foil for the iron slip, Shino glaze and all natural ash effects created during the wood firing that the piece stood up to. Admittedly this surface and indeed this pot stand out among Nakajima's works from those others that I have encountered and seen, the pot was subjected to a wonderful array of effects during the firing process that make this pot stand out among the potter's body of work. The degree of complication to what is honestly a simple addition of ash to the glazed pot is presumably the best one can hope for where serendipity and experience collide. I hope this short video slideshow gives the fuller story of what this pot looks like in person and you can see the original post where this Nakajima mallet vase is basking in the Sun by following this link; https://albedo3studio.blogspot.com/2019/10/sunshine-on-my-shoulder.html


Wednesday, January 1, 2020

HNY 2020

      Wishing you all a quiet and peaceful 2020!

(Mouse courtesy of Tiffany's, guinomi courtesy of Sakuma Fujio)