THIS OR THAT?

I think when discussing a specific work by a potter it is easy to say that he isn't known for this or that instead of saying that his is best known for whatever they are known for. I think I made this simple mistake a week or so back when I was writing about this very cool mizusashi made by veteran ceramic artist, Morino Taimei. While it is safe to say that Morino is best known for his predominantly blue based or iron red based vessels, he is in fact known to have made a number of chawan and mizusashi over the years. In this case using several glazes and wax resist, Morino has made a typical smaller form with a classic design using overglaze enamel and luster to create a decoration he is well known for. The surface is a well articulated balance of the pebbly black and grey green with the resisted area up on the shoulder nicely defining the face of the pot and adding a nice sense of irregularity to the form. Though this Morino mizusashi has already moved on to a new home it was a pleasure to handle, study and photograph and the visit will linger despite its three dimensional absence.

IMPRIMO

Of very simple design, execution and glazing, adroitly thrown and a constant reminder of what it is that makes Kawai school mingei work both popular and significant, this chawan was made by Kawai Takeichi (Bu'ichi). Using a slightly coarse clay as seen in the rough quality around the foot there is a texture created by a piece of chamois dragged on the surface while still throwing the wet clay, the impressed design was added a bit later using a turning roulette creating this effective and tactile decoration. For Kawai Kanjiro and his students and followers, the pots were kept simple, the superfluous is both unnecessary and unwanted, the "beauty born of use" a motto that helped create these pots where it is more about form and function than the concept of beauty for beauty's sake and Kawai Takeichi has left quite a body of work that typifies these qualities. Once decorated this chawan was glazed over in a single ame-yu, amber glaze which highlights the piece and allows the various throwing effects and tooling to show through giving the user an understanding of how the pot was made. I am a huge fan of pots like these; stripped of ego, purposeful, functional and certainly without pretense, this chawan could have been made in 1780 or 1980 with only the box and bio to tell us otherwise.

HAKU-ENYU CHAWAN

Broad yet inviting, this snowy white haku-enyu chawan was made by Iwabuchi Shigeya at the height of his pottery making career. Thrown and covered in a thich, crackle slip, sometimes combed, wax resisted or otherwise decorated, this surface was left undisturbed making it a perfect candidate for the wood fueled salt firing that the pot was subjected to. The landscape of the pot is certainly activated by all of the cracking and crackling and held taut by the richly blushed lip that encircles the chawan. The occasional gohonde spot and the dark, iron rich spots punctuate the form where the bowl was held while dipping the piece in slip adding to the simple appearance of this classic Twentieth Century Kyoto chawan.

And just because it is Wednesday;

MUKUNOKI BLUE

Composed of what appears to be three distinct components, this rich gosu hakeme henko was made by Mukunoki Eizo using a construction technique and surface decoration he learned from his master Kawai Kanjiro. The interesting thing about this particular henko form is that the middle and top components  are made in one mold and the bottom in another, this has afforded Mukunoki the ability to create a number of forms using several separate molds and assembling them in various ways. The last two pieces of this type that I saw, the first was glazed in a rich temmoku  with splashes of tessha and the henko was only the middle and top components and the other had a split, notched foot pedestal as the bottom of the piece which was glazed in a shinsha copper red over some slip trailing around the large central portion of the pot. This henko has been decorated in a thick coat of white slip, hakeme style around the entire surface that once glazed in his own version of the Kawai-den gosu creates a rather active and captivating landscape. It may sound a bit simplistic but how can you go wrong with white slip and a Kawai school gosu?

"The aspect of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity."   Ludwig Wittgenstein ( 1889-1951)

CRACKED

There is a quiet and grace to celadon which is not lost on potters who makes pieces that are best suited with seiji glazes; simple and streamlined forms with accents only where called for. Starting life as a thrown round bowl form and then ovaled, this seiji mizusashi has a beautiful, cracked, double refractive surface which clings to the thoughtfully thrown vessel where the slight undulations to the pot are accentuated by the surface. The mizusashi is then completed with a custom made black lacquer lid which compliments the form to the fullest creating an eye catching work that takes decades of experience to carry off.

This functional and simple tea piece was made by Kyoto native Kimura Nobuyuki (b.1965) who studied with his father, Kimura Morinobu one of the Kimura San- Mori; Kimura Morikazu, Moriyasu and Morinobu. Nobuyuki set up his own pottery studio/kiln in Shiga prefecture in 1992 and has had a rather busy career winning numerous awards with frequent exhibitions through out Japan. His work is predominantly seiji pottery with a variety of glazes that run from light elegant blues, rich greens, yellows and even pinkish lavender pieces all the while keeping in mind what forms are best for this deceptively simple glaze with a dash of complexity thrown in to keep the potter on their toes.

KAWAKUJIRA

Illustrated is a broad and generous Karatsu-kawakujira (whale's mouth) decorated guinomi by Ikai Yuichi (b.1963). Ikai, a native of Kyoto and the Gojo-zaka area first studied with Shimizu Yasutaka and then Ningen Kokuho, Shinizu Uiichi before moving north of Kyoto to set up his Kihei-gama noborigama kiln where he has honed his skills in both celadon and ash glazes. At just about four inches across this guinomi is a handful and the pebbled, kairagi crawled surface just adds to the pot making for a blend of sight, touch and taste while in use. With many pots the sense of touch is overlooked but with a guinomi like this, Ikai hasn't failed to include any of the senses from the view of the pot, the smell and taste of the sake, the feel of the surface and the sound of the ubiquitous toast; kanpai!

NON_FUNCT

If you have ever had the opportunity to visit the Kawai Kanjiro house in Kyoto or see any of his non-functional, sculptural works you can't help but be enthralled with his array of decorated wall plaque. He created these plaques in a variety of forms, sizes and styles using varying glaze combinations, neriage or slip trailed decoration, all techniques and ideas he passed on to his many students. The illustrated gosu wall plaque is by one of his very last students, Mukunoki Eizo and certainly shows the influence and instructed canons of his master. First made in a press mold, the clay is removed, firmed up and then slip trailed and following a bisque fire it is glazed over in the easily recognizable Kawai gosu creating a stark visual that makes for a rather direct non-functional work in clay. I will interject my personal belief that even non-functional objects have a rather distinct function; to enrich and help construct an environment, in other words, to please the eye and I think that Mukunoki manages that task with a few quick passes of a slip trailer and a little bit of flair.

PARTS CLAY, GLAZE & MAGIC

There is absolutely nothing like the strong posture of a chawan by Kawai Kanjiro. The wide, bold foot acts as a defining pedestal to what at first glance looks like a common bowl form but with closer inspection it shows its user friendly attributes where it sits well in the hand, has an appropriate weight and the lip is out turned just enough to let slip the right amount of liquid. All of these considerations were honed by Kawai over a lifetime of work and experience, through trial and error and an eye for the simplest yet often overlooked details, the master creates a work that has been stripped to the least amount of detail yet creates a pot of supreme beauty and utility. This wan-gata style chawan has a rich iron temmoku glaze over areas of thick slip "patted" on to the surface dividing the bowl in to sections and creating visual depth and movement but born of equal parts clay, glaze and a little bit of magic. There is mastery and mystery married in the works of Kawai Kanjiro that has as much meaning and relevance today as they did over well over five decades ago which can be summed up in one word; timeless.

SPLASH

Since I posted the Mukunoki Eizo (Shunsui) henko up last week I though about putting up a piece that shows the great diversity of the potter while high lighting his adherence to the Kawai-mon and thought this temmoku and tessha tsubo would do the trick. Cutting a rather robust and study form this tsubo has that classic Kawai school presence, ruggedly thrown and with four purposeful attached lugs the rich temmoku glaze is decorated and punctuated with splashes of an iron rich tessha glaze harkening back to the works of Kawai Kanjiro. I really enjoy the folky and utilitarian qualities of this pot which demands to be used and admired, truly a blend of the Kawai and mingei aesthetics from foot to lip.

"The difference between utility and utility plus beauty is the difference between telephone wires and the spider web." Edwin Way Teale (1899-1980)

SPECIALIST

Specialist (noun); a person who devotes him or her self to one subject or to one particular branch of study of a subject or pursuit.

Illustrated is an early yuteki-temmoku style vase by "oilspot" specialist, Kamoda Koji (b.1948). Classic in appearance and certainly heavily influenced by the Chinese archetypes, this vase shows a vivid partridge feather style glaze composed of a rich, dark temmoku with rusty feathers appearing through the surface. Kamoda was originally a product of Kyoto having first studied with Shimizu Tadashi (Gojozaka) in the late 60's before going on to apprentice with Ningen Kokuho, Shimizu Uichi in 1988. This particular vase was probably made during or after his study with Shimizu Uichi and clearly shows his budding command of the tricky glaze and firing wrought with failures and a low rate of success. Obviously, Kamoda persevered and is one of the pillars of the yuteki-temmoku tradition which flourishes in Japan today. Though an early piece by Kamoda, this vase stands out as a successful foundation of a body of work that has perfected and added to the tradition of temmoku wares through single minded discipline and dedication to a specialized art.

HAKU-ENYU TSUBO

I was asked recently if I could show a more "clinical" photo of the Iwabuchi Shigeya tsubo that I posted a week or so ago. I made a composite picture of the front and back of this shinogi style haku-enyu tsubo and hope this fits the bill. It is a very elegant piece, fitting having been created in Kyoto and the surface has a myriad of textures and colors that are best explored up close and in person but I tried to get as much as I could in the two photos. The is a nearly identical pot, form wise in the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo made in 1991 and the surface is a very somber white with little variation; in all honesty, I would have to say I far prefer this particular pot with the abundance of variation in the visual landscape which highlights the form and pronounced ridges quite well.

"A man is too apt to forget that in this world he cannot have everything. A choice is all that is left him."    H. Mathews (1927-2014)

YURIKO II

I found this photo searching around the web and was struck by the contrast of the milky ashy grey surface with the vivid red (yuriko) that punctuates the design on either side of the bowl. There is an undeniable mastery to Kawai's brushwork and his ability to manipulate space with his design and decoration, few if any are as capable. In a few experienced strokes, the pots breathes life and blends ceremony, function and presentation without a moment's hesitancy. As I look at his pots I can help but think how modern they must have seen at the time and now though they can be used to measure the modern pottery movement, they are positively timeless, they echo the past and present in this moment. If Kawai were alive today in more than just spirit, his pots would still continue to confront, engage and captivate the viewer with  a simple conversation about the present.

"I have realized that the past and the future are real illusions, that they exist only in the present, which is what there is and all there is."  Alan Watts (1915-1973)

SNOWDAY

It is a snowy day in central New York and as I look out on the snow covered treeline and hills into the valley, I am reminded of one of our early trips to Japan. It was late November and on this particular day, we were out to see the Kinkakuji and Kiyomizu-dera. As we walked up the streets to the  Kiyomizu -dera, it began to snow. Not heavy snowfall, but a lyrical, fluffy snow that sort of hung in the air. Once at the temple and on the large wooden deck, you could see the snow falling all about Kyoto and cover the scenery in a fine white blanket. There really is little to compare to seeing the Kiyomizu -dera and Kyoto blanketed by snow with snow swirling around the great observation deck as you peer off into the valley. I love Kyoto in the winter time. I know this has little to do with pottery, but it reminds me of wandering the streets of the Kiyomizu  pottery district and seeing pots and potters at work. It is worth the visit. It stands as one of the truly memorable moments from out treks to Japan.

Illustrated is a 20th century print of the Kiyomizu-dera amidst falling snow. This print is by Tokuriki Tomikichiro(1902-2000) who not only created the artwork but founded a publishing company that published his and other print artists' prints. Tokuriki served as a link between the Shin-Hanga and Sosaku-hanga movements and his imagery primarily focused on  the myriad of Kyoto scenery. Tokuriki is also know as the man who taught Clifton Karhu (1927-2007).

IT IS WHAT IT IS...............

“They have no hidden symbolism or meaning,” he said, “They mean whatever you see in them. Any work of art belongs to everyone, because it is whatever each person sees in it.”      Kawai Kanjiro (1890-1966)

Though at the time, Kawai was speaking about his carved wood sculpture, he said nearly the same thing about his sculptural henko forms. His commentary was that they were for whatever someone intended them for and it is this casual nature where he creates and gives over the creation to “everyone” that is one of his most admirable qualities. His belief that he was the creative conduit for the creation of his pots and sculpture is based on his serene belief and practice of Buddhism in which he credits that spiritual reality for his creative abilities. By looking at many of his pieces, it is easy to see their contemplative and Buddha-nature looking into their plastic form. From this perspective, Kawai was arguably, the most adept potter to accentuate form with his intentional decoration. Few others have risen to the level that Kawai Kanjiro achieved during his lifetime dedicated to clay.

Illustrated is a large henko by Kawai Kanjiro. This large molded bottle form has a clear glaze over the rocky Shigaraki blended clay body with large, spontaneous “splashes” of deep green and orangey red overglazes. This picture was taken at the KAWAI KANJIRO HOUSE museum on Gojozaka in Kyoto on one of our trips to Japan. If you are a potter or pottery lover, this museum is the first place you should visit in Kyoto!

ITS JUST WARM

I never like throwing and especially slipping pots when it is this warm and humid. But, I persevere; turn on some tunes, turn on the fan and think of one of our trips to Japan in late Nov. 1991. We were in Kyoto at the Kinkakuji in the early morning, snowflakes were in the air and the roof of the golden pavilion was blanketed in a thin layer of snow. When it gets this warm, I think of that day and even if it doesn’t cool me off, it certainly makes me feel better!

(Detail of a Japanese scroll painting; “Pavilion in Snow” by Hirai Baisen, 1889-1969, a painter from Kyoto)