WATATSUMI

Illustrated is a rather generous and thoughtful gift that was sent to me some while back, sort of a thank you for helping out a new collector get their bearings, along with some basic translation help and hints as to what to avoid. This specific piece was sent to me because of my interest in texture as well as Ki-Seto glazing, made by Goto Hideki clearly his watatsumi guinomi has both in spades. This guinomi is a little on the large side and the visual and physical textures are both wonderfully complimentary to the evocative, twisted form. Considering our recent excursion into collecting guinomi, this was a very nice addition and let’s be perfectly honest, based on my usual choices in pottery, this little gem certainly stands out like a Godzilla in the Tokyo bay.

MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON

Way back when, at a time when clay, chemicals and energy were much cheaper, I would take and write a number of pottery styles on little slips of paper and then pick two out blindly. In one case I ended up picked “Greek kylix” and “renaissance majolica”, what I decided on was the body of an apothecary jar and the pedestal of the kylix and plus or minus, this is what I had come up with. Considering this was likely two decades ago, there are no photos of my previous crimes against pottery so last fall I started making a few of the pieces perched atop pedestals to see what I could end up with. 

This Oribe covered jar is one of the pieces I ended up making, made of stoneware out of two pieces, well three if you include the lid, the surface has an impasto decoration, moving around the surface at a diagonal in two bands around the form. Once bisque, I used my Kuro-Oribe glaze and well, the rest is pretty self-evident. Two traditions blended together to create this horizontal, raised covered pot, a little bit of Greece, a bit of Italia with a pinch of Japanese pottery and a momentary lapse of reason coalesced with the aid of some clay and heat.

TIL DEATH DO US PART

Illustrated is a quick picture of a most welcome marriage of a tokkuri and guinomi by Nishiura Takeshi. The guinomi is the new addition and was something I was actively looking for to pair up with the existing Echizen tokkuri, a not too novel concept adopted from a fellow collector in Europe. It would seem every tokkuri needs a guinomi or two and vice versa, in some respects this completes the other even though the chances they will be used are slim to none. The clay and surfaces of these two match quite well with hints of Nishiura’s somewhat unique hekishu-yu, blue sand technique and though I am on day one of glazing for two firings, I took a few minutes to catch this pair in the height of the afternoon’s sun. Though I really love this surface highlighted by the sun, this surface has tons to say whatever the light source may be, I am alive, I am Echizen and til death do us part are perhaps their strongest messages.

SAKE-WAN II

I am not sure at times the differences between coincidence, serendipity and kismet but recently after acquiring a raku guinomi, another one, slightly different popped up by the same potter. Made by Konishi Heinai II, the guinomi on the left is the newer acquisition, simply marked “red guinomi”, this like its partner in crime on the right both resemble miniature chawan which I often refer to as mini-wan. Despite being different surface, both have very similar sizes, forms and even weight which is a testament to a skill honed through repetition and decades of production. Perhaps the only real difference between these two pieces is the kodai and surfaces are a bit different and to my eye, they compliment each other rather well. I know I said this previously, I am not normally drawn to Raku/ raku potter with the exception of Raku Kichizaemon XV and Konishi Heinai II, one is in my price range and one is not, can you guess which is which?   

BTW, I should note I would love to use these for bourbon and not sake, but truthfully, I just don’t have the nerve!

CONTAGIOUS ?

Not sure if it is contagious but I have noticed a few potters have recently had accidents of one type or another and now can proudly add myself to that list. I have been a hobbled after a small accident and things have been slow going of late though I am now in the midst of a concept of a plan for my imminent glaze firing. I had to make up a number of glazes and have glazed up a few test pieces to proof all the glazes and surfaces as well as having made up several dozen glaze tests. Most of these are unheard-of combos from existing glazes that I use currently or have on hand from past use and feel the need to do this every now and again. 

Once the test bowls are fired, the glaze test will all go in bigger firings to get a more reflective outcome, I will start glazing up somewhere around fifty pieces, almost a dozen with lids. There are several orders here and the two kiln loads will be divided up among soda blue, amber, saffron iron yellow, temmoku and two types of Oribe. Until the glaze proofing is complete, I am trying to take it easy as the last thing I need is to end up making things worse which in all honesty, I am very good at, at least I know my strong suit.     

By way of a quick post, here are the two ring jars that held up my last firing. Though they looked similar just glazed, the one is saffron with black iron over and the other is Kuro-Oribe which has pooled nicely in the depressed channels. Both are small covered pieces that will take up little space and can be used for just about anything short of holding a full party bag of peanut-butter M&Ms coming in at 13.5oz, I know this for a fact as I tried.

DETAILS

I was recently contacted and asked "what's with all the detail pix?" and thought to relate this simple experience. Years ago, I was contacted by a dealer with a group of photos of a pleasant looking chawan that I really didn't show much interest in but was highly encourage to take a look at the piece in person. The pot arrived and true to their word, the bowl was quite exceptional in person and was betrayed by the limits of the photographs. Flash forward to the digital age and the internet and these details flush out pieces that may seem nice in an overall shot but with a detail picture the whole thing becomes a lot clearer in terms of what is actually happening with the pot and its surface. As if that wasn't enough, by sharing detail pictures a clearer understanding of pots that many individuals may not ever get a chance to handle is the next best thing to seeing the piece in person or behind glass at an exhibition or museum show.   

Illustrated is a perfect detail shot, this is the interior of a Ki-Seto guinomi by Goto Hideki. The texture and glaze are just perfect for these semi-amorphous forms based on seashells, watatsumi, creating depth and movement to counter-balance the nature of the forms. Normally, the interiors are hidden but it is exactly this detail that clearly illustrates the brilliance of the partnership between the whole and the sum of its parts at which Goto excels.

KUSHIME SHINO

Wonderful combed Shino henko, bottle form with thick glaze over a rich, deep red iron yohen surface with hints of pale green covering the pure white areas. The henko has intentionally carved facets or channels that help animate the form though the thick, finger swiped Shino brings movement and animation to the form. Matsuzaki Ken including this in an exhibition in Heisei 14 where it is prominently illustrated.  You can see more of this Matsuzaki ken henko over on my Trocadero marketplace; 

https://www.trocadero.com/stores/albedo3studio/items/1507539/ILLUSTRATED-COMBED-SHINO-HENKO-BY-MATSUZAKI-KEN

THIS IS WHERE IT BEGINS

Illustrated is a simple porcelain cup with impressed decoration, this is one of many thrown cups used for testing as I upscale from test rings or pods, in essence, this is where it begins. This particular test is quite rudimentary; I am using cobalt and manganese in conjunction with the soda blue glaze to see what effects I end up with and how best to use these oxides as decoration. As with most testing, I am really just trying to establish a baseline for color, saturation and style, I’ll get back to you when or if I figure it out.

KAKI-TEMMOKU

On some level it is easy to see the influence, style and surfaces of Shimizu Uichi in this small chawan style guinomi. As you focus in closer on the form, it becomes clearer that it is in fact by Shimizu Yasutaka, son of Uichi and the perfect student to carry on his father’s legacy and profound knowledge and use of iron glazes. Thrown out of a well textured, buff style stoneware, the exposed clay has a crinkled, chirimen-hada style texture that is then covered over in a deep rich, dark iron glaze that has had areas of a drifty, iron red kaki like glaze applied over which has been stretch and drawn thin exposing cells of dark black piercing the secondary veil. Though well known for his use of turtles as a motif in two and three dimensions, I believe Shimizu Yasutaka is at his very best when he makes use of layered iron glazes like this kaki-temmoku (persimmon temmoku); they are simple, direct and to the point and always beckon to be used.

ALL-NATURAL

Illustrated is an old (?) mentori-kakeire by Kohyama Yasuhisa likely dating from the 1970s or 80s. Though early work, to some degree it doesn’t look all that different from some of his later work from form, technique and surface. Like some older pieces that have been around the block a time or two, this vase has a few tiny flea-bites around the extreme of the mouth which have been repaired with a pewter finish lacquer that clean up the edge but doesn’t quite distract as much from the continuity of the surface. I really love the incised channel that separates the body from the mouth/ neck area and perhaps one of my favorite features is the bright, all-natural fired clay color that seems to glow or just beam. It is always the simplest things or details that get to me and the rich color just beckons to me, “forget the exterior, come explore the riches hidden within”.

POTTER AND FLAME

Illustrated is a rather traditional Echizen hanaire by Nishiura Takeshi, far more conservative than his hekisha-yu blue sand pieces and showing a far more feudal appearance and austere presence. The form of this vase seems like it could be from Shigaraki, Iga or Bizen but I think it is the surface that really gives it that Echizen flavor where the rich iron clay has flashed over to a deep, almost crimson hue that has melted a bit and has become quite wet in appearance. The firing has deposited a nice layer of ash to the upper portion of the vase which during the firing has turned to liquid and run down the pot aiding in creating the distinct illusion of verticality. All of the surface effects add to the rugged, sturdy form bult for use while being finessed by potter and flame to create a classic Echizen vessel that shows Nishiura’s ability to move back and forth between the traditional and the modern voice he has given to his pottery. Though this would appear to be quite a distance from his later, unique pottery, the strength and vitality of his work is written across the form and surface on this hanaire acting as its own signature of the work of Nishiura Takeshi and no other.

TIMES TWO

Some while back I was asked to make a couple of whisky bottles and after some thought, design and back and forth, I arrived at this simple shape. The bodies were slab built and the neck and stoppers were both thrown and added to the mix. The surface was first covered in black slip and then the white slip was applied, impasto style before being bisque and then glaze fired with my Oribe and some Kuro-Oribe accents in the center of each side. The original two were done in temmoku and ash and honestly have a much different, darker appearance than these two which were made a week or so later. This is certainly no complex form, simple lines, straight forward texture and glazing but without a doubt, they certainly don’t look like your average whisky bottle and that was the idea all along.

MATSUKAZE

This rare and double illustrated Matsukaze Oni-Shino mizusashi is by Tsukigata Nahiko, the father and creator of all things Oni-Shino. This very sturdy, weighty hyotan inspired mizusashi is a perfect centerpiece for chajin and collectors alike where the wonderful crackled feldspar Shino glaze has cascading rivulets, small streams of ash running down the surface making for a rather evocative and seldom seen effect among Tsukigata’s works. The form and surface are excellent examples of Tsukigata’s surfaces and forms though the Matsukaze (Pine Wind) style surface is rarely seen and is well represented in the book on the potter, ONI-SHINO where this mizusashi is illustrated. Beyond the illustration in the ONI-SHINO volume, this mizusashi is also illustrated in an exhibition catalogue contemporaneously to the book.