BEAR TRACKS

I think it would be safe to say that as you survey the work of Kumano Kuroemon that the work is bold, masculine, adventurous and spontaneous from the use of clay to the use and application of glazes, not to mention his near herculean firings. Illustrated is a detail of an older Kumano vase, probably made in the 90s that shows off all of these attributes and includes a casual "bear track" where he held the pot while glazing it just adding to the immediacy of the process which once fired is readily recognizable. This particular vase is over a foot tall and the form is rough and imbued with a sense of having just happened, fresh off the wheel, the application of glaze though well practiced shows a casual, off handed quality where control and precision are missing from his vocabulary or rather he has just decided to throw those particular page out. Covered over in a thick feldspathic Shino glaze, Kumano's handprint acted as a resist when more glaze was applied and later during the firing just the right amount of ash helped further paint the surface and accentuate the bear track as the thin glaze was coated in a natural accumulation creating a brown and sometimes crusty texture. As Kumano fires his kiln with a dedicated intensity the surface is also covered in running green ash as well as pools of green glass filling the nocks and crannies across the surface of the vase. Though this is a simple, singular detail shot of this Kumano Kuroemon vase I think it is safe to say that this is exactly the type of bear track most pottery collectors wouldn't mind encountering.