IRON ON IRON

From the moment I first saw a photo of this chawan, I was just drawn to the direct and playful nature of the bowl. The form is simple, honest and appealing but the addition of the tessha like iron glaze, almost calligraphic in nature is just fun, playful, exuberant that fits in the hand and blends function and poetry as effortlessly as a bird takes flight. Neither large nor small, this bowl has a strong form with just the slightest amount of unevenness around the lip while terminating in a kodai that is practical and sturdy showing off the softly textured clay that the pot was thrown from.     

From my perspective, this iron glazed chawan is a classic extension of the Kyoto aesthetic blended with an inexhaustible sense of exploration and experimentation regarding the use and potential for iron in glazes. The creativity of Shimizu is not only easy to witness in this chawan but in the majority of his work over five decades of working in clay. Though this is an older work, this chawan, expressed with the use of iron on iron, demonstrates an insight and understanding into iron as paint together with the skillful choice of clay and form as canvas to bring life out of a handful of natural materials now manifest as an object that stands the test of time and appears to have had a good time while doing so.