INCOMING V

I received several pieces on Saturday to put up on my Trocadero website. The pottery collector, who's collection is 99% British and American pottery, decided to part with his Japanese pots to focus on his primary field of interest. There are three pots, all Mino tradition pieces; an exceptional Shino vase by Hayashi Shotaro, and elegant Shino hanaire by Ando Hidetaka and a modern Oribe chawan by Tsukamoto Haruhiko. All three are wonderful pieces and both the Hayashi and Tsukamoto show what modern twists can be applied to Momoyama pottery.

Illustrated on the left is a ovoid, paddled Shino vase by Ando Hidetaka and on the right is a powerful Momoyama influenced vase by Hayashi Shotaro. Either would make exceptional display pieces in a tokonoma alcove or in a tea room, yet both would be right at home in any setting East or West. You can see more of these two pieces and the Tsukamoto chawan at my webstore;

http://www.trocadero.com/albedo3studio/catalog.html

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

I know, at first glance you have to be wondering, what are you even looking at and am I that bad a photographer. While I will admit, I am not a great photog, but this picture was taken from the inside of a teabowl, the "underexposed" warning in full effect. What you are actually looking at is a porcelain teabowl, exceptionally thinly thrown, after which using a sharpened bamboo knife, I incised a design around the bowl which is then inlaid with black slip. In essence, you are looking at the design, through the wall of the translucent porcelain. The light source behind the bowl is sunlight coming in through the studio window. The exterior decoration is a precise thin lined representation of my "landscapeman" design. I thought it looked rather cool seeing the design reflected on the interior just like the outside looking in.

"Symbols are just symbols; the thing's the thing."  Howard Ogden (1940-2011)

NATURAL BEGINNINGS

A while back, I posted up an early mizusashi by Shigaraki potter, Kohyama Yasuhisa. Along with Kohyama-san, rebirth of the anagama in Shigaraki Valley was in also due to the pioneering efforts of Furutani Michio. Illustrated is a very early Shigaraki mizusashi by Furutani Michio, though I am unsure when it was made, my best guess is sometime before 1975. There is a nice soft dusting of natural fly ash on the face and the rest of the pot is painted in various hues of hi-iro fire color. The work by both Furutani and Kohyama were a quantum leap forward from what had replaced the old medieval style of anagama firing in Shigaraki and Iga. Though wood fired, the previous pottery had an applied ash glaze on the pottery that was then wood fired. The works after the early 1970's were fired in anagama throughout the valley and the surfaces were all natural, shinzen-yu; the results of hard work, good long firings and the build up of natural ash circulating inside the kiln as a natural extension of the process. Though this pot was made at the beginning of Furutani Michio's career, it can be considered a milestone among 20th century Shigaraki/Iga pottery for being the product of a resurrected and all natural,medieval tradition.

HAIGA

Illustrated is a simple, lyrical Haiga kakejiku by Ningen Kokuho, Fujiwara Kei (1899-1983). Like his pottery, the painting and calligraphy are simple, direct and casual with tones of black, grey, light green and indigo washes portraying what is presumably Iris Sibirica, Siberian Iris with  haiku calligraphy running down the right hand side of the scroll. Fujiwara Kei was also known for his calligraphy and paintings and a number of his pots have calligraphy and Momoyama inspired simple imagery inscribed on them. For a signature, he has used his seal, seen on most of his pottery boxes adding the only red punctuation to the scroll. Though small in scale, it is an evocative scroll that has a rather large presence and an honest glimpse into how he perceived the subject.

Fujiwara Kei (1899-1983) had a late start to making pottery when he went to apprentice with Kaneshige Toyo. Unlike his master, Fujiwara Kei was interested and dedicated to creating works in the Ko-Bizen style. His approach to Bizen pottery is probably best characterized as the pursuit of simplicity and honesty in clay, which would seem to be the same approach he applied to this scroll painting.

MORE TEXTURE

Like any potter, I go through these phases of figuring out what does and doesn't work in regards to decoration and surfaces. It is probably apparent at this point that I am rather fond of various textures and the truth is, sometimes I get a bit carried away. I recently made a few teabowls for my lepidolite Oribe glaze. These chawan have to be made out of a blend of two different stoneware bodies or there ends up being a good deal of pinholing. Once thrown, I set about trying a variety of  impressed designs on the pieces and then came to this last one and decided to go all out and cover the body of the bowl in a repeat of two different designs. I think it came out rather nice for a spur of the moment idea and have to admit, the texture feels rather nice in the hand and added a good degree of glaze variation where the glaze is thicker and thinner. It would seem, this less planned out, the better.

HIKIDASHI II

Illustrated is the interior of a chawan made by Furutani Michio sometime between 1975 and 1985. The entire chawan is covered in a wet coat of glassy green ash and the interior has a very even coat of glass with one area of thick bidoro, where the ash has pooled. In order to get this particular surface, the pot is plucked from the intense heat of the kiln and allowed to cool quickly, allowing the ash to maintain its brilliant green glassy quality. It is no small wonder why Furutani Michio was so highly regarded for his Iga and Shigaraki works, his splendid firings and his knowledge and mastery of kilns and kiln building.  I am constantly amazed to see the ash, frozen in that moment it is pulled out of the kiln which stands testament to the potter's mastery of his craft and his exceptional timing.

You  can see more of this chawan over on my Trocadero website;

http://www.trocadero.com/albedo3studio/catalog.html

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY

"No sacrifice short of individual liberty, individual self-respect, and individual enterprise is too great a price to pay for permanent peace."  Clark H. Minor

UNEXPECTED

Over the years, I have collected up whatever catalogues on modern Japanese pottery, that I can find that is of interest to me. In that time, I have also developed some relationship with book dealers and collectors who from time to time send catalogues/books my way. About three weeks ago, a friend mentioned he had a group of misc. catalogues on Japanese pots and wanted to know if I wanted them, at cost, I emailed back and told him to send them.  So after about a week via media mail the catalogue arrived and I was very pleased to get them, several on potters I have nothing on and a few on potters who are among my favorites.

So here is where things get a more interesting. Yesterday while looking through the best catalogue of the lot, which I had done several times prior, the sunlight was just right to make me notice, the front picture page was actually signed by the potter. The first time I saw the signature, I assumed it was printed on the page as is somewhat common.  But in this light, I could see the variables in the strokes and the thick to thin where the pen was lifted off the page. Now I know this sounds like much ado about nothing, but the catalogue I was flipping through is on my favorite potter, Arakawa Toyozo! To me, this is what it must be for a baseball fan to have a Mickey Mantle autograph on a baseball program. The catalogue is from Showa 54, 1979 and is a wonderful cross section of the variety of works that Arakawa had made. I realize this doesn't add any value to the catalogue, but it sure makes it a bit more meaningful. Now if only I can find that signature on a wood box, with a nice little pot inside it!

ONE OF THOSE DAYS

"We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe." Johann von Goethe (1749-1832) What else can one say?

Illustrated is a woodblock print of the "god of lightening", Raijin by Sasajima Kihei (1906-1993).

SAFFRON NERIAGE PROGRESS

A while back I threw several chawan and covered jars in stoneware neriage to see how things progressed beyond  relatively small pieces. I got everything bisque and glazed and finally fired last Friday.  Other than a few small pinholes, the results look good, the larger covered jars, water jars, came out rather nice with a good degree of variation on the exterior surface. Where the iron rich clay is, there is some nice dark, purple brown droozy effects which helps break up the surface. The interior had a thicker coating of the iron yellow saffron poured in and I am pleased with the results as the surface all runs down to create a thick pool of  glaze in the bottom. I have always admired the neriage works of Kawai Kanjiro student, Ueda Tsuneji and can not deny the irresistible influence of his pottery in this work surface-wise.

The chawan illustrated was dipped quickly in the saffron glaze and the pattern turned out close to what I was after. The original intention for the neriage pattern was continuous undulating ribbons running around the body of the bowl. Though the pattern came out quite well, there are areas where the top or bottom of the loop is open. I guess only continued practice will make perfect, but who would want that anyway?