HNY

The past week here has been rather a crazy weather period; early snow and cold here one day, then rain, then freezing rain, then more snow until we are frozen into lock-down at our home. We are about 100 yards uphill, a steep driveway between us and freedom but luckily after all this time living here we have learned to plan according with supplies and DVDs at our disposal and not a single package on the horizon. Now we wait until all this current storm passes and have our path to liberation plowed!  At any rate, have a very Happy New Year one and all!

“Out our bedroom window

The landscape frozen

The footprints of deer”

PLANS BEST MADE

 

Today was just one of those Mondays, I had plans, things to be thrown, glaze made and some odds and ends. At exactly 7:36am that all changed, the explosion off in the distance of a transformer blowing and the repeated cracks and thuds of trees falling all around and, in that instant, we were without power. Plans changed, no studio work which gave me a few extra moments here and there to take a few pictures. As you can see in the photos the trees, snow and the whole region is covered in an inch of ice, even the currently vacant bird’s nest, trapping us at the end of a 100-yard, uphill driveway in our house for the day and possibly several. The power as you may have surmised has come back on, the house is at 56 degrees and now climbing again. With any luck I can get several small covered jars and a group of soup bowls made tomorrow but with another snow storm now at the front door, maybe making plans isn’t all it's cracked up to be.

SENSIBILITY

A pottery collector friend of mine who only collects American pots asked me recently what it is about Japanese pots that has seduced away from more local pieces. I have thought about this for quite some time and I think for me there is a visual and visceral texture and authenticity to the pieces that like, they use tradition as a springboard and many rarely stray too far from that ideal but just enough to give voice to the clay which I should also note can be said for wide swaths of Western pottery. It is not that Japanese pottery is exotic but rather elemental and honest with dashes of panache, subtlety and rusticity that ends up being conversant to my sensibility, that creates an emotional resonance that I am truly captivated by.  

Illustrated is one of those pieces, totemic in presence and posture and all about surface and texture. Made by Nagaoka Masami, this appears to be hewn out of clay with direct and forceful facets and rough impact marks created by paddling. The two tiers appear like a medieval tower, fired in the path of an angry yet benevolent fire creating a surface of runny ash coating the surface creating a sense of wetness that goes on forever. This is exactly the type of work that drew me Japanese pottery though I do have to admit, Arakawa and Kawai Kanjiro had quite some magnetic attraction as well. I could go on but I think it is easy to see how I got here despite a love for most things made out of clay that show a well-conceived combination of form, texture, surface and concept, East or West.

SUB

I thought this Oribe style combed slipware covered jar could sub in for a festive interlude for a Christmas photo this year. It has that look and feel in person so this will have to do in a pinch.    

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Festivus for the Rest of Us, Happy New Year and just the best for everyone, even non-potters moving into 2026!

ANOMALY

Over time, I have seen quite a few of these slab henko vase forms by Furutani Michio but I think this one qualifies as a bit different than the majority of other examples, an anomaly with obvious connections to the broader body of work. Perhaps the most noticeable difference is the proportions where the henko is clearly much more horizontal in orientation than it is vertical and though many of these pieces are just a bit wider than tall, this specific example pushes that concept. The second thing that sets this apart that is clearly not visible in the photo is that this is the smallest example I have ever encountered, are there others, most likely but I have just not seen one before this one. 

I should also mention this is a rather old photo taken just after it arrived, at least a decade ago and photographed against a black background to try to emphasize the form, texture, surface and volume.  Since photography is not my strong suit, all I can do is hope that the presence and posture come through, that is all I can hope for. 

“Through every rift of discovery some seeming anomaly drops out of the darkness, and falls, as a golden link into the great chain of order.” Edwin Hubbel Chapin

MYSTERY

Who doesn’t love the occasional mystery? Generally speaking there are always a piece or two that have just defied being identified, some with boxes and others without, it is just part of collecting. To that point, this small porcelain covered cha-tsubo is just that, at the moment the maker remains a mystery though I can see it is very well made and finely glazed. My wife bid on this a while back despite not knowing its origins but the soft blue glaze, pure white lid, undulating lip and faceted precision make for a rather appealing little piece. This covered gem comes complete with its signed box but has of yet been unidentified but in due time, most mysteries are solved. I decided to give this unknown tea piece the Hollywood treatment and think it is more than ready for its close-up.

CREDIT

Illustrated is a hybrid whirling dervish meets mallet vase just hanging about in the afternoon sunlight. This stoneware vase form was thrown out of two pieces and then luted together before applying white slip, thin and thick which was then ultimately combed to create a bold deep texture. Combed diagonally, the slip adds that whiling motion and together with the soda blue glaze completes the package. One neat feature of this soda blue glaze is that it has pooled just a bit on the edge of the shoulder and each of the ridges created during the throwing process bring the eye to focus on those features. 

Though I have altered this glaze ever so slightly, all credit for this durable and wide-ranging soda blue glaze to whomever was the originator of this formula. I have used this glaze all the way back to the early 1990s and it has never failed to add just a bit of positive energy and a timeless quality to the pots that make their way into the soda blue glaze bucket. You know who you are (?) and thank you very much for the never-failing glaze recipe.

PICTURE-IN-PICTURE

Illustrated is a haikaburi ko-tsubo by a potter that I am not that well acquainted with, sort of a picture-in-picture image. That being said, only a short while before receiving this piece as a gift from a Left-Coast friend, I had encountered two of his pots and the who is Tamura Kazuyuki. As I mentioned, this little ko-tsubo was a gift from a collector/ scholar of all things baked clay, he was well aware of my fondness of things wood fired but also my interest in texture and complex surface. As you can see, this simple pot has quite an interesting and varied landscape with the rich, iron red shoulder giving way to glass and all leading to the solid emerald like drip suspended under the belly of the little pot. I took this photo against the backdrop of a moon picture I took some while back; it has that sense of solemnity and austerity where the feeling of the pot is as important as any details one could focus on. I truly enjoy pots like this, it will never change the world but in its own way it adds just a bit to it.

REMINDER

I must admit when I first saw this chawan I was pretty sure it was another Echizen chawan, possibly by Nishiura Takeshi but after kicking the tires I realized I was pretty much off base. In point of fact this all natural (shizen-yu) chawan is classified as Mino-Yakishime, simply put, wood fired Mino pottery, no glaze and as natural and authentic as can be. Beyond the surface, I was drawn to the robust form, with very little manipulation from its wheel thrown origins and just hints here and there of some spatula work and other spontaneous potter’s marks. The ash has built up rather well on the face where it has taken on this hazy surface while showing areas to the rear interior of the bowl that have ash running like some primordial waterfall cut off in mid-stream. The entire floor of the chawan is covered in a glassy green ash while the very center has a perfect small pool of deep green, fractured ash just shy of 4cm across. Perhaps one of the most intriguing features of this bowl is that once you break away from the ashy front, the rest of the surface is covered over in what must be a super fine peppering of ash as the entire surface around the bowl and across much of the photo just sparkles, it is alive with a shimmering layer that just reflects light back at you as the bowl is moved around in your hand. 

As to the origins of this Mino-Yakishime chawan, this was made by Kurata Mitsunori, born in Kagoshima in 1951, I was unable on a quick search to find very much other information about him other than the fact that I found a number of yakishime examples along with Seto-Guro and Shino wares. I think there are times when the four Ws are less important than what is right in front of you, seeing what the object really is, unencumbered by the who, what where and when. This chawan once again prompted me to look and not overthink things and that is always a valuable reminder.

THREE, TWO, ONE

Over the last two years I have been struggling with getting the most out of my saffron, iron yellow glaze. I ran out of my old iron and ordered more only to find out the results are a bit different and now not entirely dependable. I recently posted a saffron teabowl up on Facebook and now have been asked by several people if they can get one where my answer is, well, I just don’t know and stay tuned for results. This trio of teabowls were glazed in my Hagi white with three, two and then one coat of an iron glaze over it. These bowls were put out of the way temporarily while I finish glazing the rest of the pots in more dependable surfaces and I loaded the kiln just a few minutes ago. Time, temperature, application and luck will tell the tale of the firing and if I don’t show any results, you can use your imagination as to the results. 

"Testing oneself is best done alone." Jimmy Carter

TURN-AROUND

It is not that often that I am involved in a quick turn-around involving pictures and post but I was asked to put up a more “direct” picture of the recent Oni-Shino kakeire by Tsukigata Nahiko. I was happy to oblige and here is a photo looking at a slightly downward angle and into both the mouth and the aperture that was cut into the vase. One thing that is abundantly clear in this photo is that this piece must have been in a hot spot of the kiln where heat and serendipity have created two large molten drips of glaze just hanging from the top of the opening, organic and active, both showing off to the fullest the rich iron, ash and feldspar concoction that is Oni-Shino.   

“Most discoveries even today are a combination of serendipity and searching.”  Siddhartha Mukherjee

SPIRIT

When I first saw this large and bold mizusashi, the sheer sculptural qualities were inescapable though at the same time it had a real organic presence, the spirit, like some weather and water formed stone in a river bed. This imposing Hagi mizusashi was made by Kaneta Masanao using his kurinuki method of starting with a large hunk of clay and methodically hollowing or carving out the form from the inside. Once finished, this mizusashi was glazed over in a Shira-Hagi glaze which in this case has blushed to a pink tone in just all the right spots and the surface has thinned ever so slightly on the high points and areas of sharp, carved line to further define the form and its motion. Though I have seen a lot of Masanao’s mizusashi forms, this one spoke to me, it is conversant at a number of levels and also qualifies somewhat as fantastical and animated in its execution where the tapering form, elegant blushing, rich carved lines and the appearance of what appears to be sprouting wings on either side breathe life into the clay making which on most days would be a great pot and turning it into a true work of wonder where concept, creativity and technique have all conspired for unencumbered success.  

“Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.”  Leonardo da Vinci

WAY BACK WEDNESDAY

I wonder if way back Wednesday is actually a thing? At any rate here is an older teabowl of mine, the idea is the classic bamboo form that I have worked with for a rather long time which is admittedly an amalgam of a bunch of pieces parts from pottery old and new. What always stood out to me about this rain patterned bowl is the way the iron and Shino glaze interacted and carbon trapped rather heavily leading to a rather unique surface which only occurred on perhaps one in fifty pieces among which this was the best example. Beyond having a smokey and reflective surface, the transitions boundaries between the iron and Shino created a bunch of subtle effects including these wild white spots or crystals. Bare in mind, while I was working on this combination, this was never anything I was trying to create, it was pure serendipity which rarely showed up but when it did, it was a most welcomed hitch-hiker and when it didn’t, I was always just a bit defeated. Glazing, firing and expectations, the trio of exuberance or (slight) disappointment.

SANCAI-HENKO

Illustrated is a rather old photo of a classic Kawai school pot, a sancai-henko by Kawai Hisashi one of Kanjiro’s last pupils. Created in a multi-part press mold, this henko is larger than most of Hisashi’s work and is glazed over in a fine, clear glaze covered in fine crackle crazing. Once glazed, this had three separate glazes splashed or ladled over; one using chrome, one using iron and one using copper. I have seen a number of this form and even several in this sancai style decoration and this remains one of my favorites by Kawai Hisashi.  There is really little else I can say other than this henko would seem to be the perfect collection of Kanjiro styling, simple, spontaneous glazing and a well-conceived and functional form and that is just about all one can ask for let alone expect.