CURDLED SHINO

I just love the appearance of the curdled glaze sandwiched between two fields of thick ash coated Shino on the upper wall and lip and the interior of this large chawan. This rich detail comes for the interior of a large chawan by Kumano Kuroemon if you hadn't already guessed the maker. This particular chawan is a balanced mixture of these and other effects and textures around the exterior of the piece making for a rather profound and captivating landscape that few other than Kumano can create by serendipity, firing after firing. Adding to the overall aesthetic experience is the fact that this is a fairly large chawan which gives the viewer even more to look at, study and enjoy from moments of simple, straight forward effects to those over the top, bold and complex combinations of feldspar, ash and fire. In the end I guess it all comes down to years of experience and a willingness to run head long into  pushing clay and glaze to the extreme brink of failure and when you are willing to take those risks with those risks can come great rewards, for both potter and collector alike.

SANS LEMONS

 

A short while ago I was asked to make a set of these closed form serving pieces and now that they have been fired, here is the only extra sans lemons. Being the eternal optimist that I am I went ahead and made a total of 10, eight for the order and two extras, one of which was the prototype. Things began to take an ominous turn as they emerged out of the bisque as one piece cracked half way around the footring and up the side but I forged ahead and glazed the remaining nine pieces in the Kuro-oribe style and this is how they turned out. This particular piece, looking a bit like some hovering space craft was the lone extra as they all emerged in top top form which is good as I was not relishing having to make one or two or even eight more to be honest. The top and texture benefitted most from the iron and despite this photo highlights all the paddled surface with some nice mottled glaze effect across the piece. With this set out of the way I am now wondering how this would work out on a much larger scale, perhaps time will tell.

EARLY DAYS

Staring into this maelstrom of an interior reminds me of what the early days of a nebula coalescing into form at some distant reach back in time. Obviously though, neither quite that old nor quite that significant what you are actually looking at is the interior of an Iga chawan made by Kishimoto Kennin. As the chawan collected up loose and depositing ash like the gravity of a forming celestial body the surface became covered and under its own weight and molten viscosity began to run and coalesce at the bottom of the interior. By using varying wood types as both fuel and ash source, various elements within the chemical make-up of each tree, each piece of wood beyond its preponderance of silica can separate and migrate making their way to the very top of the built up glass creating any number of effects of which this is but one. Perhaps the classic appearance of a Kishimoto chawan is the manipulation and serendipity of the surface which is a blend of ash, thick and thin together with vivid hi-iro and tsuchi-aji brushed with fire to complete the landscape and why would the interior be any less interesting than the exterior?

IRON PETALS

Illustrated is a rather simple and unpretentious chawan made out of a fine grained stoneware clay and having both nuka and tetsu-yu glazed to finish off the bowl. As you can see the bowl was thrown and ever so slightly moved out of round with a central ridged around the circumference of the chawan which in turn is glazed in a rich iron decoration of iron petals which is further highlighted by iron crystals that shimmer in the right light. 

Kimura Ichiro (1915-1978) studied first at the Kyoto ceramic Research Center and later with Hamada Shoji starting in 1935 until set up his own studio in 1947 where though the ongoing influence of his master can be seen, he developed a unique style for himself especially seen in the myriad of "quirky" and idiosyncratic molded henko that he produced, some simply decorated and other more so in a tour de force display of his excellent command of form and space.  

This particular chawan was made in a rather mature style showing restraint in the throwing, tooling, glazing and decoration and made presumably in the post-1965 period. I should note that though not exactly seen in this photo, the testure and coloration around the bottom of the bowl and kodai is rather pleasant looking like it has been banded specifically to call attention the the rustic appearance, vivid texture and feel of the foot. This Kimura Ichiro chawan is a classic piece to represent his body of work which clearly espouses the best elements of the Mingei movement with all of the functional necessity of tea ceremony or simply a bowl for udon or ramen.

ANOTHER VITAMIN JAR

Small Kuro-Oribe tea jar from a previous firing that was photographed in the sunlight to best show off the glaze surface. Thrown out of a rather sandy stoneware clay once dry enough the surface was lightly faceted to create subtle vertical planes around the piece as well as to open the clay texture and allow many of the inclusions to later affect the glaze surface. As you can see the shoulder and lid have both benefited from a build up of the iron glaze applied over my Oribe creating a fair amount of visual texture and serendipitously allowing the collar of the neck of the small jar to stand out as a rich green surface. Though starting out life as kiln filler, I thought these jars would be good for storing tea but honestly their purpose is out of my control and they can be used for holding  just about anything including holding canine vitamins as I have been informed. It may not be easy being green but apparently they are easy enough to use.

POSITIVELY MEDIEVAL

A while back I was looking at two pots that showed up here and have to admit I was struck by the incredible contrast between them. The first pot was a pale blue seihakuji mentori chawan by Ueda Tsuneji (sorry no pictures to share) and a positively medieval Shigaraki suribachi style katakuchi by Kon Chiharu which is illustrated. I really enjoyed my time with both pieces but for very different reasons and would be happy to have them here indefinitely but if I was pushed to choose between them, I think the Kon Chiharu would win out. Despite the cool and contemplative honesty of the seihakuji chawan, it is the elemental and primal nature of the Shigaraki everyday katakuchi that speaks to me at a different level and not the intellect but rather the intuitive.   

As you can see in the photo there is a casual and spontaneous nature to how this suribachi style katakuchi was thrown, altered and then decorated, simplicity of design and creation exactly the way early Shigaraki and other medieval potters would work. The potter then let the kiln do the rest of the work and placed this piece to maximum advantage in his anagama allowing more than its fair share of ash to build up and melt creating this wet, glassy surface that is both perfect for the function of the pot and quite appealing to the eye.

HOME PHOTOS

Setting aside the color difference between catalogue and home photo for a moment, when I first saw this Tsukigata Nahiko chawan my assumption is that it was heavily used and soiled which certainly gave me more than a moment's pause. However, just after seeing this chawan I received a very nice exhibition portfolio in which the chawan was illustrated and it clearly shows all of the accentuated crazing right out of the proverbial box, the lines are all iron rich and quite natural under closer inspection. I had never seen this technique used by Tsukigata before and the fact that there are three chawan, a mizusashi and a teoke hanaire all in this style means that it is something he was quite familiar and comfortable with. What I can tell from the photos is that this is a classic, mature chawan by Tsukigata with his inviting, waisted form that is comfortable to the hand with a soft, rounded kodai that rests well in palm and a lip with the slightest of undulation that calls to the eye and to be drunk from.

This leads me to the color of the chawan which appears differently in all three photos that I have seen of this piece which is clearly defined as "crimson Shino". Despite the title of the piece, the true color is a crimson toned (?) rich coral color and was first decorated in iron, dipped in a thin coat of the glaze and then redipped in a more hap-hazard manner to affect the variations of the surface inside and out. As I am constantly reminded, it may not be a chawan for everyone but it is a rather poetic piece that further enriched the overall oeuvre of Tsukigata Nahiko and his pursuit for every possibility a new tradition has to offer.

FINE LINE

To some people, boring and to others current and lively, maybe that is what kohiki is all about though it is hard to deny the function and utility of the bulk of this work from every day to tea ceremony. I was just having an email exchange when I came across a folder of yunomi that I had here a long while past, a collection that I was selling for a retiring friend and amongst the pictures was this Ogawa Tetsuo kohiki yunomi.  Now I will admit there is a very fine line perhaps a razors edge between boring and simplicity and after all it is a word used way too often but I would argue there is elegance to this simple and noble kohiki yunomi whose sole purpose is to press on in service, to be seen and to be used like century's worth of pottery that has been made and used before it. Because of the simplicity of the surface, there is absolute clarity of form, nothing to hide faults and foibles, nothing to misdirect the eye, what you see is just exactly what you get and in this practical piece, the potter's goal is function with just the right amount of aesthetic considerations thrown in to make the yunomi go, "pick me, use me" and why wouldn't you?

BUILT TO POUR

When I reflect on my earlier days in clay, especially in Cleveland, I can't help but remember just how many teapots and pitchers (jugs) that I made. They were in every firing be they stoneware, porcelain or terra cotta but over the years there were less and less orders for jugs and teapots seemed to go to specific places and special orders. Since those days I have continued to make both forms and in time they find homes through galleries or now days over the internet. I think back on the tradition I came from, among which there were three Leach pupils, all dedicated to function and purpose and by hook or by crook, I can't see stopping making teapots and pitchers anytime soon.   Illustrated is a healthy size cottage style teapot made of terra cotta covered first in a dark black slip and then over-decorated in "falling leaves" in thin yellow, green and red with a thin clear glaze over the surface. The end result, this cottage teapot is built to pour, holds enough for six (?) and was designed and made to be a standard, functional pot that is as at home in the hand, on a table or adorning a shelf hopefully not just collecting dust.

ECHIZEN TAKENOKO

A fellow collector up north sent me this photo in situ of a rather well fired pot in use on their dining room table, black cat included. Made by Echizen potter, Nishiura Takeshi, this thrown pot has had small feet attached to reorient the direction the pot was meant to be used as well as how it was fired. Resembling a bamboo shoot, this vase has a wood fired surface that speaks of some ancient promethean wrath of ash and flame engaged in some enclosed ferocious argument or at the very least a very serious personal disagreement where as luck would have it the pot survived wrapped in that molten fury. Despite knowing the origin and process of this vase I can't help but think that it appears like some mysterious found object co-opted in to use looking both natural and other-worldly at the same time. Perhaps the most enduring impression that this simple vase radiates is that of being elemental, old, ancient, medieval at the least that which ties the Echizen works of Nishiura in an unbroken line of tradition from the past to the present.

MORE IS BETTER

I had shown both of these pieces as greenware and decorated just prior to going in the bisque so I thought I would show the pair just out of the glaze fire. Both were intended to be glazed in the Narumi-Oribe style and the deep green did its part rather well but the Narumi-Oribe just wasn't quite strong enough where I mixed up 20% iron slip with 80% white slip. In retrospect I should have likely gone 60/40 remembering that more is better (?) but no changing the results now. All in all it still has a neat look and it works well on the thrown and squared forms so best to live and learn with the next kiln being the test crucible especially with all the various kiln filler intended as much for feedback as anything else.          

"There is an element of luck, this is an element of trial and error, sometimes you fail, sometimes you succeed. It's not as beautifully simple as it may seem when we are talking about it."  Lakhdar Brahimi

HAPPY FOURTH

Irrespective of your politics, these two quotes go a long way to explain what is at the core of the United States and its grand experiment;

"True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else."  Clarence Darrow

"May we think of freedom not as we please, but the opportunity to do what is right."  Peter Marshall 

BALANCE

Looking like violently created rock strata surrounding a moving stream, this Oribe futamono, covered box is a lesson in imaginary landscapes and vivid texture. Having some elements to older Rimpa decoration, the texture plays a key roll in articulating this form as well as inviting the eye from side to side and top to bottom of this pot which at its core is a simple box, simply executed but the potter has whipped up the surface in to a turbulent and frenzied vision with areas of placid calm to balance the landscape out into a harmonious vision.    

This Oribe covered box form was made by Kato Kuniya (b.1940)  who over his career in clay he has specialized in Oribe, Seto-Guro and Karatsu and exhibited at various venues including Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition, Japan Traditional craft Exhibition and the Chunichi International Exhibition. The are elements of tradition blended with modernism and hints of Rimpa thrown in for some measures harkening back to the sylized decoration of Ogata Kenzan without being too overt about it. The interior is simple and calm by contrast though decorated with a few errant plovers exactly like those that are seen on quite a few older Oribe works as well as on various Rimpa paintings where they can be spotted about the waves and sea spay in 2 and 3 dimensions. As with much of Oribe pottery, it is the carefree attitude of this piece, both the exterior and interior that truly ties it to the early Edo tradition of the casual and playful nature nurtured over the centuries and certainly still alive and well in the pottery of many modern Oribe potters, Kato Kuniya included.