TO DO LIST

This is an old photo but I think it gets the message across, it speaks of what it is to be a Shino henko vase form by one of the leading potters of the region, Wakao Toshisada. I realize that not being a chawan, a vase doesn’t get all the same level of glamorous attention but the surface and wonky form of this piece certainly grabs my attention. The vertical form asks the eye to dart up and down the form where the uneven Nezumi-Shino battles between curdled grey and the iron that has made its way to the surface making the white decoration of grasses stand out across the pot, reaching upward again bringing the eye on a journey to the articulated shoulder and perfectly formed neck and mouth on what at its core could be considered a simple vessel.  As for Wakao Toshisada’s intent for this work, I will let this quote speak to that end; “Above all, I want to mix modern styles with traditional Japanese sense of beauty as it is presented in Nezumi-Shino.”. I think it pretty clear that he can check that goal off his list of things he had intended to do.