DEPTH OF WINTER

When I was a kid growing up on Lake Champlain we would spend a lot of time on the ice, fishing and skating and on one rare occasion cross country skiing from Plattsburgh to Burlington. The ice in the depth of winter would range from being flat and smooth to areas of great upheavals but when you would stop now and again and look through the ice it would have this frosted, cracked appearance that even though it was feet thick would give you a momentary pause concerning your safety. When I first looked into this wood fired chawan by Kowari Tetsuya memories of my youth sprung to mind and gave me that instant emotional rush of near panic and exhilaration at the same time. 

Glazed in a feldspathic Shino glaze, the intensity of the fire has melted the various elements, added in some natural ash and created this fractured floor showing off some patches of frothy white, kannyu seiji style effects and crystals created through the blending of the available materials and temperatures. The bottom, mikomi of this chawan appears far off from the lip, a descent into what looks like a frozen and silent landscape that certainly will bring the viewer back again and again to experience the solitude and solemnity of what a potter and a harnessed conflagration can create.