HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY

Perhaps because I am a product of too much TV, Movies and music, as soon as I pulled this bowl out of the kiln my mind went to the classic 1941 film, HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY where everything finds its relationship to some form of media or another. This bowl is a wan-gata style bowl, thrown and classically tooled on the wheel out of a white stoneware before being given its surface marching orders. Using a very dependable clear as the first glaze, it is then dipped in a secondary glaze after drying completely lest “bad stuff” end up plaguing the pot. Once the second glaze was dry, it was sprayed with a thin wash and then had a thick and yes, very runny wash added to the surface it is at this point that I have no choice but to give over to heat and serendipity as the glaze will go where it goes and there is no last-minute interventions.        

In this picture you are looking into the interior where multiple cascading trails have run into the bottom of the bowl and where they mingle, besides some other interesting little details it has create some shimmering, dark crystals. I will admit this Hongyo-yaki inspired work is a bit in-your-face but as you look at the flow, movement and variegation, maybe it is a bit like a fungus and will grow on you if you give it some time, I know it has for me.    

"There is no fence nor hedge around time that is gone..." Huw Morgan