DOUBLE TAKE

Quite a while back I made a video of a Oribe kushime style teabowl that I had made and posted it up on Youtube. This was not a video slideshow but rather a video of the teabowl in motion on a rather cheap turntable and as I looked at it this weekend I was rather crushed at how poorly it actually captured the real nature of the bowl. In the video the bowl doesn't really want to stay in crisp focus for the majority of the duration and the color, texture and surface are washed out and not terribly interesting. I am not sure when I turned away from making this type of video but I could see where this presentation would be the nail in the coffin.

This past weekend as I was cleaning up and putting things away I actually realized that I still had this teabowl, loosely, very loosely based on a Momoyama piece I had handled, sitting up on a dusty shelf and decided to rephotograph the piece in a way that would bring out the character and characteristics of the piece. In this photo the use of Oribe and Iron show up quite nicely with a wide array of color and texture accentuated by the kushime combing and areas where the infused glazes are using the channels as diagonal speedways adding movement to the teabowl. I know it would seem that I already covered this bowl in its video debut but I thought since it was just hanging about that it deserved a double take, a shot at putting its best foot forward and hopefully this time I have succeeded in that task.

NIHONGA-YAKI

I am a huge fan of modern Japanese painting, the Nihongo masters like Higashiyama Kai and Hirayama Ikuo rate high on my list as I am sure they do for most lovers of the idiom. That being said, perhaps it is easy to see why I find this cover box so intriguing, the Nihongo inspiration is rather unmistakable, it is like looking through a densely packed forest of bamboo with the wonderful added benefit of function. This vivid and meticulously decorated hexagonal futamono covered box was made and painted by Oda Aya (?) and clearly shows a mastery of both clay and painting together with a keen sense of space to create this evocative and naturalistic piece. I love how the coppery background comes through all of the detailed stalks of bamboo creating such a sense of movement that if you concentrate you can almost hear the sound of the rustling of leaves in the distance. As I said, I really love Nihonga painting and could it get any better than to be so incredibly rendered on a three dimensional ceramic form? The obvious response, I just don't think so.

LINE DRAWING

This short video slideshow is another one of the older videos I built quite a while back using my first digital camera and what by comparison is now considered stone age software. Unfortunately I can re-photograph this chawan and these pictures will have to do to give the best insight in to this early Kojima Kenji Iga chawan. What is immediately apparent is that this chawan was well fired and despite the nice coating of ash on the face the incised archaic style line drawing pops right out. I have seen this style of archaic inspired decoration on a number of Kojima's pieces including a few large henko and tsubo that creates movement and visual curiosity to the surface. I apologize for the less than stellar quality of the video slideshow but still think it conveys a broader sense of this Iga chawan than a single static photo would. Enjoy.

NEXT

I am not sure if I had used this photo or one of the overall before but I was puttering around the studio and the light was just right and I was reminded of the neat glaze effects that occurred on the surface of this shallow wall bowl. Made perhaps at the beginning of last year in a series, I had hung this bowl up on the wall as an extra to an order and it has been there ever since. As you can see the area of temmoku is riddled with what would almost pass for oil spotting effect that is flanked with a tortoise style appearance across the rest of the piece. As you probably guess this is not a planned outcome but in some cases where the temmoku glaze goes on a bit thick it creates this texture when the medieval green is placed over it. As I mentioned this morning the sun caught this piece just right and I was immediately reminded; why is it I haven't made any of these pieces in a while?

OPTICAL ILLUSION II

I put up a post  recently entitled; OPTICAL ILLUSION about the effect that is present as you look at this Miura Shurei tsubo and thought to put up an overall photo to show off the form and scale of the piece. I will concede that this is probably not the best photo of this large tsubo but given the highly reflective and refractive surface this was about as good as I could do given the time that I had with the pot. Clearly influenced by old Chinese pottery and glazes this robust vase seems inflated to capacity with a palpable volume trapped within the form yet finished off with a rather delicate neck and mouth that is broken up by the addition of three strategically placed interruptions in the lip looking like a flower from various viewpoints. Though the photo doesn't capture the glaze surface at its best it is easy to see the randomized array of color and micro-texture which is all moving down the pot in hare's fur style yet creating optical illusions about the piece. All in all a rather classic pot by Miura Shurei a true master of yohen and kamahen style pottery.

PACKAGE DEAL

There is a certain degree of exoticism regarding the careful packaging of Japanese art object for storage as well as their presentation and display. Case in point is this set of bags for a rather special luster chaire by Kato Takuo, complete with three compartment signed wood box and outer lacquered storage box. The front purple bag is padded and holds the chaire while in normal storage, the bags to the left and right are the two bags that are used during tea ceremony, chosen to best fit the attitude and specifics of the ceremony. In the rear is the large bag for the very nice wood storage container that the bagged chaire rests in while in the signed wood box. The lathe turned wood container reminds me a lot of a natsume at list in form and may be turned out of kurogaki wood though I am not sure, I will post up a picture of it in a future post. 

As I look on the total package deal involved with this single and diminutive chaire I can't help but be reminded of the 1975 book that had a profound influence on me, HOW TO WRAP FIVE EGGS by Oka Hideyuki which still sits proudly on my shelf next to me as I type this though quite honestly, quite thumb worn, annotated and chocked full of small bookmarks with even more notes and questions. I think you would have to admit that little comes close to this type of presentation despite the fact that in this particular case Kato Takuo has gone the extra mile and then some.

PEANUT BUTTER SLIP

Illustrated is a bowl from a week ago, now almost bone dry with a soft impasto style slip application. Normally I would have preferred a slightly more firm slip but this is what I had on hand so it had to do despite being the softest used for the impasto technique. The consistency of this slip was about that of stirred up, all-natural peanut butter where I normally use something more akin to processed peanut butter, noticing an analogy trend here? Despite the consistency I was still able to create rather nice, deep diagonal channels around the thrown round and squared up teabowl that I think compliment the form and with any luck should activate quite nicely with my new Oribe glaze combos. I have to admit that I love the slip and clay at this stage, it reminds me of a warm cake just recently frosted in some exotic surface where the frosting is still in a semi-liquid like state, yes everything comes back to baked goods, could it be any other way?

RYUSEN-MON

Ryusen-mon, curving lines design is the description written on the box of the large seihakuji vase by Kubota Yasuyoshi. Though this seductive and elegant porcelain vase is coated in a light blue glaze it is hard to tell in my photos but the diaphanous, ethereal ribbons can be clearly seen building varying amounts of glaze to create a rather winter like landscape that literally dances across the surface of this icy pot. A similar but much larger tsubo in this ryusen-mon design was exhibited at the Nihon Kogei-ten (16) in 2001 and won the Mainichi Shinbun Award and having seen the large piece and this piece I can certainly understand why. I think I could go on waxing poetic and slinging hyperbole regarding this hanaire but hopefully the photo says all that is really needed.

OPTICAL ILLUSION

I think I have mentioned my first contact with this potter, Miura Shurei all the way back during the traveling Kikuchi Collection exhibition where on display was a set of very pretty and very functional bowls. The surfaces on the bowls were captivating and created a rather unique effect that defied what one could actually see if you concentrated enough. This detail shot is from a large, fat, rounded tsubo of distinctly Chinese taste in which a similar effect occurs, basically it is an optical illusion in which as you look at the round and full belly of the pot the glaze seems to create an unending series of circular designs. In actuality the glaze is all running at quite a clip down the pot, after all, gravity is a law we must all contend with whether we like it or not. I will admit as far as illusions go, it is quite a nice one and really gives the pot a variety of looks especially in differing light from an almost shimmery gun metal to this effervescent surface filled with a near rainbow of color and texture. I know I say this about way too many potters but I was very pleased with my encounter with this pot and look forward to my next meeting with the work of Miura Shurei.

MONDAY, MONDAY

Today was another one of those Mondays, since this week is really kind of booked up with stuff other than working in the studio, I just decided to go down and give myself 15 minutes to make something "different". I had already decided to make something vertical and what sprung to mind was a bottle shape which ended up just over 18" tall and now came the playtime. Using two boards, I flattened out the bottle and then used a combing tool, I made a floral design that was punctuated with the end of another tool at hand to create an abstract blossom or bud style design. My initial intention was to create a faceted squared style foot but after looking at it for a bit I just wasn't entirely convinced, cut it open to check the throwing and then wedged it back up where it now resides once again as a ready to use ball of clay for future and perhaps more planned out use. The truth is that knowing my off schedule this week, it just felt good to throw something, just anything.

OBJECT

This photo is one of the many that I took during my stay in Japan back in the early 90s. When I first arrived at the home and studio of Kohyama Yasuhisa he was busy selecting and then packing pieces for his upcoming exhibition that was being held in The Netherlands though this piece was not one of them if I remember correctly as this one was for a Takashimiya exhibit. This large and evocative vase form, object was in the formal greeting room at Kohyama's home with traditional alcove and tatami mat floors with this piece and another in the corner filled with fresh cut flowers (I have the picture of that as well somewhere). I was immediately taken by this elemental and even archaic quality of this vessel which had a dazzling but thin coat of green ash melted across the surface causing it to sparkle and luminesce  as you moved around it. Though a bit hard to see in the photo there is incised fine line decoration on the surface on the front and back shields of the vase that just make it look like something from the long distant past now covered in a thin coating of ice. My stay at Kohyama's was a grand experience and being around pots like this certainly made the stay all the richer.

TOO MUCH SALT

Every time I turn around all I hear is that there is too much salt in our diets but as I look at this en-yu, salt fired chawan it is clear that there is just the right amount on this surface. Made by Kyoto potter, Iwabuchi Shigeya this chawan has nearly the ideal surface among his works with plenty of texture, salt and a wonderful blush that adds a degree of distinction to the piece. The throwing has created a sense of movement, of natural rhythm to the bowl which is seated comfortably on a  bamboo node style foot that adds that sense of lift that beckons to be picked up and used.  I enjoy my encounters with Iwabuchi's work, they are imbued with practicality balanced with beauty, they are one and all stewards of the broad Kyoto aesthetic where how one looks and how one performs are the top priorities.

MOSTLY SQUARE

Illustrated is a pair of mostly square terra cotta teabowls that were thrown and altered and then decorated with X and Os a few weeks back. This is the finished product where as you can see, they are mostly square with the belly of each plane being just slightly convex which adds to the volume of each bowl. Each side of the bowl is dominated by a large X or O in black and white making for a simple but bold design. There are several decorative devices that keep showing up in my work, perhaps because they are primal and/ or elemental in nature like the X & O, the rain pattern, spirals, the verses and the "landscapeman", each has a place on various forms across temperature ranges, choice of clay and surfaces. 

As for these particular bowls, I like altering the thrown form and using a design device that I have some comfort with makes the process just go that much smoother. As an obvious side note, there are times that I decide to just wing it, go with the very first, or last thing that enters my mind and in 98.99% of the time I feel like I have wasted the clay, chemicals, energy and time it took to make the piece and process it along. This is not to say that trying new things and testing isn't a good thing but rather best to test designs and decoration first on paper and then on things that are much less labor intensive to make, think flat square slabs.