BOUNDARIES

I have to admit, trying to photograph this solitary and somber seiji chawan is likely beyond my skill level but I will let these photos try to tell the story of this bowl. Made by Uraguchi Masayuki this chawan has a less bright, darker tone where some of the crazing is highlighted with a distinct iron red acting like boundaries between fractures in the celadon glaze. Truly one of the outstanding features of this chawan and other pieces like it is that around the foot and in the interior's mikomi, the glaze takes on a very distinct and opaque quality that differs and stands out from the rest of the piece guiding the eyes to these distinct attractions without seeming incongruous to the overall aesthetic.  

Despite having studied the Chinese archetypes and learning from Miura Koheiji, this chawan and in fact much of his work shows a distinct dependence on the later works of Okabe Mineo from shape and surface. Though one could easily argue that Uraguchi and Okabe were simply feeding off the historical antecedents, to my eye there are subtleties that Uraguchi has "nicked' from Okabe Mineo and then absorbed into his own vocabulary to create a stand alone body of work. This work reflects an idiosyncratic voice built upon what had come before but is moving toward tomorrow. Employing a studied and innovative approach to making his works stand apart from many of his contemporaries while at the very same time standing shoulder to shoulder within a new aesthetic based on over a millennium of prior expression and a rather broad diversity from pottery to pottery and potter to potter.

STACKED

Just a quick post as my days are filled with loading and unloading the big kiln, cleaning and getting another group of pots bisque. Illustrated is a single group of eight terra cotta winterberry bowls with a number of other stacks and groups still green and others that are now bisque. I have finally carved out two areas to store glazed pots ready to be fired and will start glazing tomorrow as the backlog is getting a bit too overwelming. At any rate, though the anxiety is peaking a bit, it is always better to be busy than not.

AN IMPRESSION

If I am not mistaken my first exposure to the works of Kojima Kenji was back in 1992 or 1993, there were a few of his pots at a small gallery in Shigaraki, perhaps a dozen or so. If memory serves me as I have no photos, there were a couple of tokkuri, several guinomi, a small vase and two chawan and all were quite well fired but due to financial constraints and appointments with several other potters I left empty handed but an impression was made that continues to this day. After my intitial exposure and the advent of something called the internet, I began to see Kojima Kenji's works more frequently and over the last two decades he has become one of my absolute favorite wood fired potters where his pursuit of Ko-Iga and his exploration of form and surface has made his pottery stand out among many others in his field. 

  Illustrated is a rather fine, fairly recent Iga mizusashi by Kojima Kenji that is a perfect example of what I am talking about; a strong, sturdy form filled with purpose while keeping an eye on the aesthetics of Ko-Iga ware that he is rather passionate about. Perfect in scale, the mizusashi was thrown and then slightly manipulated to create a rather honest, rustic form where less is more with the exception of a few classic Iga (and Shigaraki) Xs added around the form as well as large lugs on opposing sides. The front of the pot is covered in a wonderful array of wood fired effects including where the form sat in a bed of charcoal during the firing to various glassy ash spread across the mouth, shoulder and patches of the exterior. The rear is all about tsuchi-agi and a hint of wetness caused by the flame and fly ash fuming the surface interupted by marks of the potter in the form of clearly visable Xs incised in to the clay. The interior floor of the mizusashi has a nice coat of ash that sparkles when the lid is removed to see the mysterious contents within and the foot is flat and smooth punctuated by a group of rich, emerald green bidoro droplets. I think it is rather clear what draws me to the work of Kojima kenji and this mizusashi is a rather classic piece that echoes through time back to the feudal Ko-Iga tradition that speaks to the soul in a rather distinct and resounding tone.    

More of this mizusashi can be seen over on my Trocadero marketplace;

https://www.trocadero.com/stores/albedo3studio/items/1483667/BOLD-KO-IGA-MIZUSASHI-BY-KOJIMA-KENJI

QUIRKY

Quirky /ˈkwərkē/ characterized by pecular or unexpected traits

In a little show and tell with a fellow collector a while back I showed him a rather modern Oribe vase by Tsukamoto Haruhiko and his first impression and comment was "what a quirky piece". A couple of days latter he emailed and said that after thinking about it he was very impressed with the playfulness of the form and his use of the glaze surface, he thought that quirky may be misunderstood as a negative comment. It has been quite some time since I had access to this vase but truthfully my first impression was rather similar, the vase is filled with movement, casual in its creation, playful in its demeanor and posture and rather idiosyncratic in its presentation, a perfect addition to the modern Oribe tradition. 

I honestly don't think quirky is a bad descriptor and think about it as you survey the form and its wonky mouth and oddly placed lugs near the base of the pot, how is it best to characterize this pot? The rather vivid throwing lines and puctuation of myriads of small feldspar inclusions bring a sense of both tension and motion into focus and the oribe glaze surface has an expert application of a well practiced water-colorist where shades and depth of color crystalize the evocative surface. I should mention though not exactly my vernacular I agreed with the collector as to his choice of words as it is rather clear that Tsukamoto Haruhiko's Oribe pots are rarely exactly what you are expecting to see as they are pulled from the box.

FINAL FRONTIER III

Whenever I run a bisque one of my big fears beyond pieces exploding (!) is the power going out. It happens here now and again with bad weather or extreme heat and inevitably if it is going to crap out there is a 97% chance that I will be running a kiln. Illustrated is a large terra cotta X&Os pasta bowl (or "supreme-size omni-bowl) fresh out of the bisque which took an additional few hours to fire due to a "power interuption" but to no ill effect. I have quite a few pots to fire over the next three weeks including tebori, slipware, sgrafito, snowberry, abstrakt resist and falling leaves in terra cotta and a group of stoneware and small batch white stoneware before any of them can be glazed. I guess since I am complaining about power outages I may as well interject that as I get these pieces bisque fired, there is a developing backlog of pots and I have learned my lesson about glazing and stacking pots in the past so now the big question is, where am I going to store these pieces in the meantime? I can make light all I want but there is no way around the fact that space truly is the final frontier.

WELL YES, I GUESS I DO

I wonder when it is with some many other pots that you have to admit that you may collect kogo? Is it four, perhaps a dozen or two, when does it become clear that besides having a problem in general that you collect yet another type of vessel that you didn't really think was on your radar? To be fair, on numerous trips to Japan, the number one gift or presento from Japanese potters was in fact a kogo and that really forms the core of this collection. Kogo from Furutani Michio, Honiwa Rakunyu, Ueda Naokata, Tani Seiuemon and others and that is only the pieces from Shigaraki potters, then on to Bizen, Mashiko, Gifu, Hagi among other destinations and the next thing you know after a number of trips you have two dozen or more kogo. Over the years with places like the ubiquitous auction site and a few Western dealers in Japan and now you have another healthy dozen and before you know it you have more kogo than any other type of pottery. Admittedly, this group of kogo takes up a rather small amount of space, perhaps as much as a medium tsubo, all tucked away in their nice little storage boxes with a couple on display at any given moment but still when asked, "do you collect kogo?", it still takes a moment to resonate, "well yes, I guess I do". 

Illustrated is a nice, idiosyncratic mentori kogo by Kohyama Yasuhisa that was a gift to my wife quite a few years back from the potter. Hand formed out of one small amount of Shigaraki clay, the basic form was arrived at prior to the piece being cut to shape and then cut in half, hollowed out and a lip added to secure the lid was formed. Fired somewhere in between pots at the back of the kiln, this kogo has a pleasant, inviting and toasty exterior which is just a shade lighter buff clay color on the interior and perfect for its function. As I said, I am not sure I would have considered myself a kogo collector but the truth is that I really love pots and this diminutive pot is just another form of expression though a bit smaller that what usually ends up coming my way.

IRON AND A BIT MORE

Back in June I put up a blog post on a rather rich and noble tetsu-yu chawan by Kimura Morinobu that happened to be illustrated in a retrospective book on his work over 50 years. Two months pass and another tetsu-yu chawan comes my way, this one not illustrated in a book but rather an exhibition catalogue from the 1990's. This chawan has both a somewhat similar yet different presence to it with a form just a bit more open and low and a surface of the palest green ash glaze surrounded by crystalized iron creating the illusion of some distant cosmic landscape where some star clustered nebula peers out from a backdrop of varying effects created in space. I should say that when I first saw the photo of this chawan in an exhibition catalogue, admittedly I thought it a bit flat, perhaps dull but with just the right amount of light the surface just springs to life composed of iron and a bit more. The real story of this chawan is that it clearly far exceeds one's expectations where decades of experience bring clay, glaze and fire to mingle together under the watchful hand and eye of the potter, Kimura Morinobu.

REPURPOSED CLAY AND WOOD

This is one of those spur of the moment, let's see what the heck will happen if I try to repurpose a squared Oribe vase and turn it in to a covered piece with a wood and copper lid and as you can see here are the results, neither great nor terrible. I had made several of these vases some while back and this one got pushed to the back of a shelf and basically forgotten about until my superior wood working skills needed some flexing and I decided to make a wood lid for the piece. The wood was from a scrap piece of old cedar from several houses back that was cut to shape and then with the aid of a rasp, two small chisels and some sand paper was worked to fit the form and sit inside the lip of the ceramic piece. After some vigorous sanding the wood lid was "lacquered" using a stained polyurethane and made ready for the addition of a copper loop handle by drilling two oval slots. The copper loop handle was made by taking a piece of thick copper wire (scrap) and hammering it flat and then bending it to the desired shape which accentuated the hand hammered marks on the surface. The copper was then set with two part epoxy and there you have another wood lid which all told, cost nothing as everything was on hand or scrap excepting perhaps a little over an hour's labor or so. As I keep reminding myself, I am no woodworker and should just stick to clay but now and again what is the worst that happens, you waste an hour or so and I can live with that.

DAY IN, DAY OUT

I realize that I put up a blog post about this haikaburi uzukumaru style tsubo by Takauchi Shugo some while back but ran across this sunlight and shadow photo and decided to put this up well. In many respects these photos using the sun and shadow help focus in on various details from the the casual manner in which the mouth was formed, study and well defined and perfect for trapping ash to the aminated, free style incised decoration which is part and parcel of Takauchi's vocabulary to the opaque, running ash showing off against the fire flashed surface in perfect contrast. These are common observations but perhaps my favorite aspect of these photos is that there is a direct relationship to medieval antecedants where such an object was defined by sunlight and occasionally the moonlight as well. 

As the light fades and candle power takes over the crispness of form and surface are taken over by the mysterious encroachment of shadow until the pot fades away into the background of the environment periodically lit by the glow of the moon only to be revealed fully again come dawn. I like this cycle where the pot is always changing from dawn to dusk and am rather thankful that I have a few spots that are perfect for creating this experience day in and day out, rain or shine as the day drifts by.

SIX SIDED POT

cube; /kyoob/ noun; a symmetrical three dimensional shape, solid or hollow, contained by six equal squares

 I know I have written about Hagi potter Mukuhara Kashun previously on my blog, my encounters with his work go all the way back to the days of visiting scholar and author Dr. Fred Beakeland. Over the years it has been a bit unclear as to why I seem to have an affinity from his work, early exposure or interest in Hagi in general and like a good handful of other potters the reality is that I just am attracted to the way they handle clay. As for this group of potters and Mukuhara in particular I enjoy the directness visible in the clay and forms, the honesty is almost immediately apparent and the pots are neither fussy or overly complicated. In these works, like this illustrated kaku-gata Hagi mizusashi, there is no need for superfluous detail, purpose, function comes first with aesthetics coming in at a close second, why add more when the principle is that less is sometimes really more especially when dealing with a six sided pot. 

 Thrown out of a rich, red clay, this mizusashi was paddled square and then carefully faceted from top to bottom leaving a distinct border around the base that gives the pot a degree of visual and actual stability while present a coarse and rustic impression. Once glazed, the mizusashi was wood fired and has a wide array of effects from areas of charcoal carburization, blushing and white crystal growth and a nice coating of wood ash both fine and coarse across the top, sides and on the lid. Though when generally thinking about a cube or square, static seems to come to mind but with the facets, slight manipulation of the sides and the motion of the glaze, the piece has movement and is alive with its purpose and filled with an honest quality. 

I am not sure that I can really adequately describe why the pots of Mukuhara Kashun among others resonates with me. With just the right encounters I am left feeling enriched by the experience and feeling a deep sense of having seen a simple object created and fired by embracing the most common elements to produce what is clearly not your every day pot.

OBJECT

This pot was acquired on our very first trip to Japan. Early that year, 1990, we met Kohyama Yasuhisa at the home of Michael Cunningham who back them was the curator of Japanese art at the Cleveland Museum of Art. At that time we were invited by Kohyama-san to come to his studio should we get to Japan and we did just that about six months later. Having toured Shigaraki the previous week with the help of the Honiwa family, we made another journey to Shigaraki where we were met by Nakamoto Nakae and spent the better part of an afternoon visiting with Kohyama-san and seeing his studio, kiln and workshop. We left with a kogo and guinomi as gifts as well as a tokkuri and this object all well packed in my backpack. 

Though only about 6" tall this "object" was coil built out of coarse Shigaraki clay with a rough opening and several pattened Kohyama facets on either side. The surface of the piece has a wonderful, pure light green surface of all natural ash that doesn't mask the clay surface allowing all the faceting marks and feldspar pieces to help articulate this small, intimate form. Though this was not one of Kohyama Yasuhisa's large KAZE pots at the very least we had a wonderful experience visiting and still managed to walk away with four very pleasing and cherished pots that were easy to carry and in my opinion are much larger than their actual size would ever convey.

PLAY A BIT

I made this spade vase form quite a while back out of spare parts from a "construction job" that I was working on. Though it took a while, it finally got fired and here is the finished piece glazed in my Kuro-Oribe style surface with some additions sprayed over using a glaze atomizer. I can say though this was a spontaneous build, I may have had an eye toward Hans Cooper's spade pieces to get me to this point and once assembled, I pierced squares in the supporting foot and incised abstracted field designs on either side. Overall the surface works quite well on the form, the attached ring lugs and the incised decoration giving the vase form a nice, aged appearance that has differing faces depending on what light source it is exposed to. At the end of the day for a spontaneous build,interesting form, random decoration and a rather reliable surface it was enjoyable to play a bit with the left over parts and get a piece that I certainly would not have built but for these circumstances. 

On a side note if you look at the very bottom of the foot you will see a duistinct, green roll of glaze just hanging above the surface. How this just created this roll and didn't run off is another one of those decidedly cosmic conundrums of ceramics.

IN MOTION III

I made this short video of the Tamba wood fired hakeme chawan by Nishibata Daibi a short while ago. I have handled a number of hakeme chawan but for some reason when I think of hakeme these days, this bowls springs to mind and was just a great all around encounter. This chawan has a rather primal and elemental spirit that makes it a fine, functional and aesthetic pot in hand, in use or just hanging about on a desk or shelf. Though I posted this as a static image previously I was hoping this less than professional video would give a bit more insight into the form, dimension and surface. Enjoy. 

The original post for this chawan can be seen here; 

https://albedo3studio.blogspot.com/2020/04/in-moment.html