PHOTO ENHANCED

I found an old photo of one of my winged covered serving pieces with a large spiral knob recently and the time spent making it and others flooded back as if made yesterday. This one is thrown out of stoneware with a notch cut foot , glazed in Shino and then fired at PSUC  while working with Bill Klock sometime in the late 1990s while I was living in Cleveland. This photo came from a bunch of negatives I recently converted to digital images and the platter was made along with maybe 50 or so pots that were intended for the reduction glaze firing at Plattsburgh State or for Bill's wood kiln and in this case, the piece was dusted with a thin coat of ash prior to firing to enhance the effects. I miss those days of going back to work with Bill at the university and to his studio on the old Jersey Swamp Road, making pots, firing kilns and tending the fire while talking about his time with Bernard Leach and visits to see Michael Cardew. It is amazing that a simple photo can spark a number of memories that are held within, well beyond the image captured.

KO-TSUBO II

Illustrated is a small little jar made in Fujina, it is combed slipware with a soft greenish toned ame-yu glaze made by mingei purist; Funaki Michitada (1900-1963). Measuring in at less than four inches tall, this pot is a little gem with a swollen, full presence with a perfect little knob made just right to get the job done. Influenced by Old English slipware and Bernard Leach, Michitada and his son, Kenji (b. 1927) have carried out a crusade for creating beautiful and functional pots in a blended style of medieval England and Japan. This lidded ko-tsubo is made out of an iron rich reddish clay that just peeks out through the combed texture revealing a dark surface just beneath. Having a wonderful, natural feel in hand with a lid fits just right and the knob just asking to be grabbed this is a mingei pot through and through.

HONTO

There is a lot one can say about Funaki Kenji (b.1927) from idealist to a staple in the Mingei tradition. Unlike most of the post-war potters, Kenji embraced the teaching of both Bernard Leach and Yanagi Soetsu and in doing so fused together a distinctly Japanese sensibility with hints of Old English pottery and his personal mingei journey. This journey started under the tutelage of both Leach and his father, Funaki Michitada (1900-1963) creating a foundation for a dedicated mingei style. Working on the shoulders of the Fujina tradition and the Fujina-gama, founded in 1845, Funaki Kenji has crafted work that is direct, honest and aesthetically pleasing. His forms and glazes maintain a balance of function and practical utility but the simplicity of his pottery is betrayed by the luminescence and depth of the surfaces married well to strong and noble pots. Illustrated is a rather utilitarian covered jar, at its core a pot for everyday use, but examine the various details, the handles and knob are both practical and aesthetic considerations, the volume and decorative accents animates the verticality of the pot and rich, lustrous glazes encapsulate the piece to bring it all together and to life. It is a functional pot for everyday use, but the truth of the pot is, it is so much more.

"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple." Oscar Wilde

THE ROCK ON IPTV

For those that have not seen the documentary, THE ROCK OF ST IVES, here it is, in three parts posted up on Youtube. Though certainly not in HD, the grainy video, often with poor sound is still an outstanding testament to Bernard Leach and the movement around him including footage of Hamada Shoji, Michael Cardew and David Leach. Well worth a watch and a great insight into a potter and pottery of the period.

MULTIPLES II

I think back to stories from Warren Mackenzie, Bill Klock and Jeff Oestriech discussing the series, multiples of pots they were responsible for while at the Leach Pottery. I have heard this very same thing from a number of potters working with the likes of Hamada Shoji, Shimaoka Tatsuzo and many others. For some potteries, the multiples were the standard ware of the kiln, sometimes impressed with the masters’ seal, other times clearly defined as work of the kiln and not the master. For some potters, especially Hamada, Shimaoka and Kawai, there were a variety of molded pieces, henko, etc. made by the students or specialists which were then later decorated, marked or glazed by the master of the kiln.

I am unsure where I came by the illustrated picture, but it clearly shows Kawai Kanjiro surveying a large grouping of multiples in various stages of completion. To the left are a group of finished pots, most of which are molded forms with iron and clear glazes and various colored underglaze decoration. In the middle of the photo is a group of recently molded greenware pieces, ready to be bisque and then decorated and glazed. The group on the extreme right appears to be a group of bisque molded covered box forms ready to be decorated, glazed and then fired. I have always been fascinated by this photo as it shows Kawai’s multiples in each stage of completion and is one of the few photos of this type that I know of. I guess it is true; you can never have enough of a good thing!

PIECES PARTS

It is an amazing process looking at pots. The eye takes in the whole image and the brain immediately reduces the image to its all of the pieces parts. From the foot to the lip or lid, the brain goes to work looking for errors, inconsistencies and faults. The brain races to the memory bank and compares the whole and its parts to stored away images of explary pieces and compares and contrasts the one to the other. What is truly amazing about this process is that given enough experience, this takes just seconds to process all this information.

I used to wonder if the same rules that would apply to a Greek urn, would also apply to the rough and assymetrical ware (chaki) of Japanese tea ceremony (chanoyu). I realized that once you establish a visual vocabulary of those pots, the same type of processing the form and surface takes place. It would seem to be all about image recovery within your memory where your brain applies principles of the “golden mean”, geometry and established archetypes on each and every pot. The dialogue between pot and viewer is sacrosanct and as the poet John Keats extolled in his poem, ODE TO A GRECIAN URN (1819);

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need know.”

“Aesthetically a pot may be analyzed for its abstract content or as a humanistic expression; subjectively or objectively; for its relationship of pure form; or its manner or handwriting and suggestion of source of emotional content.” This quote from THE POTTER’S CHALLENGE by Bernard Leach is the premise for why people bond with pottery or objects in general. It is the dialogue sparked by the potter who has done his/her best to capture their “humanistic expression” which carries on a dialogue with the viewer. The “emotional content” of the pot is the trigger that connects potter/pot to the viewer and begins the journey and study of the object, its components and its source.


The illustration is from THE POTTER’S CHALLENGE by Bernard Leach.

SOMETHING TO WATCH ON IPTV

I realize many of you have most likely seen the attached four videos from Youtube, but in the interest of becoming a multi-media conglomerate, I thought I would post these all in one place. I enjoy watching these videos time and time again and marvel at the simplicity of the various approaches to the task of throwing.

Hamada Shoji Throwing 1


Hamada Shoji Throwing 2


Michael Cardew Throwing


Bernard Leach Throwing

A CONSTANT MEASURE

My introduction to pottery happened rather round about and later than usual. I had been doing free lance writing for several publications and was writing a forward to a catalogue on ceramics and figured I may want to go and get some input from the “local” pottery professor. I made an appointment and met with Bill Klock, professor of ceramics at Plattsburgh State University. Naturally, I had tons of questions and Bill suggested that I come into a class and try it for myself. Once there, I was hooked and was allowed to audit the class, fire kilns and become friends with a great teacher.


Bill, William Henry Klock, was not your ordinary teacher. He had apprenticed with Bernanrd Leach, spending some time visiting the Cardew pottery, and later in life, trekked to Korea to work with Korean craftsman and fell under the influence of the Onggi potters. His ability in clay is equally matched by his skill working with wood and his insightful draftsmanship. Bill’s style of teaching and making pots is casual. It shows in the rhythm of his pots and his pupils. His command of throwing and sculpture has been a constant measure as I work, always wondering what Bill would do and how he would approach it. We eventually made the next step and wood fired at his home in upstate New York, further cementing my future in pottery. His energy, patience and willingness to share was a boon to many, myself included, who have come in contact with Bill over the years. His command of stoneware and earthenware, sometimes made with his friend Clive Bowen, is best understood in hand and through the use of his pottery. Some of my favorite pots I own are by Bill and after nearly 20 years, the continued dialogue only deepens.

Bill retired from teaching and is Professor Emeritus of SUNY, Plattsburgh. He still makes pots and furniture when he is not off trekking about to England, the Caribbean or elsewhere with his wife Anna. Having worked/studied with three Leach pupils, a Japanese master and numerous others, I can say, Bill will remain a constant measure to guide me along the road of pottery making.

(All pots from the Bird Collection, always wanted to say that................)