A PERSONAL ACT

When I think about wood firing, I think of the communal nature of the  process. It takes more than an individual to fire the kiln and each individual is dependent on one another for the hopefully positive results that the firing will yield. Though the process is communal, the act is personal, dependant on the motivation, skill and experience of each individual. The act yields pots, lessons and a conversation with the process that is not selfish, but certainly is both self-motivated and personal on a number of different levels. When firing, sometimes it is like being all alone in a room full of people as you split wood, stoke the kiln and make any number of observations to keep the beast feed. I understand this may be a singular viewpoint as I am both skilled and used to working alone; but I wonder who else shares this thought?

Here is a nice video that I found on Youtube about the veteran American salt and wood firing pioneer; Jack Troy. It is worth a watch.

ASH RUN

Illustrated is yet another experiment using ash, this time over a rich, iron and talc glaze. The bowl was thrown off the hump with the undulating lip and rib marks added as casually as I was able and once bisque, the piece was glazed and fired and then cooled as slowly as was possible. The ash itself is a mixture of medium and soft wood ashes together with a tiny addition of rutile to enhance the color and this may have also helped contribute to the flow of the glaze as it melted. Though evenly dipped in the ash glaze, I was very surprised by the pattern that emerged as the glaze melted and ran. Though I harbor a natural pessimism when it comes to one off tests being reproducible, I will keep my fingers crossed and try this combo on a slightly larger piece next glaze firing. I know I have said this before, but I am just constantly amazed at the nearly infinite number of variations you can achieve with only a hand full of materials. This is most likely that moment a teachers told you about years ago as to why you would need chemistry, but you slept through class anyway.

"You can not teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself." Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

SWARM

Illustrated is a large complex glazed plate by NC potter, Bruce Gholson. Using a variety of glazes, wax/latex resist and inlaid glazes, this large porcelain plate depicts a lively swarm of eel all oriented in the same direction though some coming and going off the surface as if captured in a circular image. The range of textures within the glazes is truly outstanding and makes for a rather unique and evocative statement about sea life and perhaps a glimpse in to the nature of the potter himself. Gholson has used various aquatic life forms, snakes, insects and bones of varying life forms as design elements in his work and his current work revolves around exceptionally complex surfaces including crystalline and molybdenum flowing glazes.

"Nature is an infinite sphere whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere."  Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

FIRST QUARTER

Illustrated is a large Shigaraki tsubo by veteran potter, Otani Shiro. Fired to create soft textures of tsuchi-aji and hi-iro, the tsubo has a soft, noble and contemplative nature to it as it sits at home in his studio. The transitional band between the blond clay texture and the reddish orange hi-iro shows delicate and wispy bands of varying colors before each yield to the dominate tones on either side of the tsubo.  Reminding me of the first quarter moon, this tsubo is one of those perfect pots that fits into a sense of pathos and poetic lyricism that is one of the essential elements of Japanese art. There is no pot so cherished as a simple pot that is filled with tension, emotion and dialogue and it is Otani Shiro's experience that creates such fine tuned simplicity.

"Experience, which destroys innocence, also leads one back to it." James Baldwin (1924-1987)

VIRTUOSO

Since we were on the subject of wood fired, this particular chawan is woodfired². Dominating the field of Bizen ware, Kakurezaki Ryuichi has blazed a trail that connects the old to the new and as such, has influenced a whole generation of Bizen potters. This Kuro-Bizen, black Bizen chawan shows the contemplative aggression that he is known for, creating angles, cuts, facets and deliberate planes that catch and deflect the ash circulating around his nobori-gama kiln. There is a virtuoso's blend of formula and improvisation in Kakurezaki's works, repeating forms more in theory than in actuality, each is unique even before it goes in to the kiln.  

Through a combination of experience, determination and serendipity, this chawan shows the (creative) aggression of both potter and fire to its fullest. Dipped in a black engobe, the bowl faced the flames and ferocity of the firing and has survived to tell its tale of how it was created and how it was fired. The long tamadare tendrils licking back from the face of the bowl and the black surface wet with ash, have long since melted and fused to near perfection on this masterwork by Kakurezaki. With trial and error, Kakurezaki is constantly on the move forward, cutting his way into brave new ground for Bizen-yaki and in fact, modern Japanese ceramics.

(Photo provided and used with the permission of a private collector.)

CONVERTED

I have been taking the time to sort through old photos, negatives and slides and getting them converted in to jpegs before they are a total loss. As I am going through the stacks and stacks of photos, I am surprised at images that I stumble on that I didn't even know exist. There are pictures of people I worked with, like; Kohyama Yasuhisa, Warren MacKenzie, Jeff Oestriech, Bill Klock, Dick Schneider, Kirk Mangus, Marie Woo, John Gill, Bill Brouillard and many, many others. There are also the pictures, thousands of them from a number of trips to Japan as well as potteries in Japan, primarily in Shigaraki/Iga, Mashiko, Hagi and Gifu (Mino). Looking at all of these photos brings back memories of wonderful places, people, pottery and even food. This is a project, long overdue, that I am glad I am finally making the time for.

Illustrated is one of those photos that I had forgotten that it existed. Actually, it was my wife who noticed this as I was flipping by negatives and suggested that we convert this one that was taken back in the 90's at Kent State. This photo was taken just as the firemouth was unbricked of the anagama at Kent State and in the picture there are several of my pieces as well as a mizusashi by Marie Woo. At the very top of the photo, within the kiln is a teabowl that was posted on my blog some time ago, see attached link. I found it rather neat to see this picture after all these years and builds a better context for the pot. Makes me wish I had taken a lot more photographs and started converting them to digital a long time ago.

http://albedo3studio.blogspot.com/2010/06/wodd-fired.html

STOPPED UP

To anyone who has seen or read my blog, it will come as no surprise that I am very influenced by the pottery (and philosophy) of Kawai Kanjiro. His ability to manipulate space through his forms and then ply them with beautiful surfaces is nothing short of wondrous and from my perspective, he is at the very panicle of pottery making in the 20th century. Among his forms that I am extremely fond of are his bottles with stoppers, very much like decanters and maybe just a bit like "genie" bottles. Over the years I have made a wide array of genie bottles, whisky bottles, decanters or whatever you wish to call them, with stoppers where the lid creates a nice gap above the mouth of the pot. Though I am influenced by Kawai, I have tried to make my own thing using the idea and think they have come out as part of my own vocabulary. It is a difficult road to travel where you are influenced but a potter without making copies of their pots.

Illustrated is a whisky bottle with a thrown stopper glazed in my lepidolite Oribe with black slip decoration around the belly of the pot, at the mouth and on the stopper. The goal was to make a bottle that fit comfortably in the hand, held a generous amount of liquid and still felt good in the hand. The stopper together with the broad cap, keeps the contents safe and sound and ready to be enjoyed; is there anything more fitting than serving Jack Daniels in an Oribe bottle?

MARKS II

I am fascinated by the infinite variety of marks that potters make in and on clay. A simple mark, an incised gesture can move a pot from dull to exciting in the instant it takes to be made. As I have mentioned, making marks can take a lifetime or a repetitive dedication to create, just think of Hamada's characteristic sugar cane motif or the brisk marks of Michael Simon. For a mark to work, it has to be well conceived, deftly executed and more than anything, compliment the pot. It would seem the practiced spontaneity is at the heart of good mark making and experience and practice, the basis for successful execution.

The reason this came to mind again is that I recently encountered a wonderful wood fired pot covered in ash, strong form, great clay, well fired with a mark made round the top of the pot that just seems to lack any purpose of conviction. Is a poor mark like a so-so kodai on an otherwise nice chawan? Does the mark alone diminish the quality of the pot? I have spent a lot of time looking at the pot which has descended in to a love/hate relationship, I love the pot but the mark is so much a distraction that it dooms the pot to my eye. It is funny how a simple mark, made by an experienced potter which is meant to be innocuous ends up being the exact opposite, the focal point of the pot. I know as a potter, I struggle with making marks that are meaningful and appropriate, but it amazes me that you can do almost everything right and get only one thing wrong and the pot fails. It is rather inescapable that the devil really is in the details and for a potter, you need to get all the details right, each and every time. Certainly sounds simple enough.

Illustrated is a close up of a Persian box by Michael Simon. The design of two fish is the model of simplicity, all superfluous detail has been removed and in economy and fluid dexterity, he has rendered a design that he had familiarity with through his experience of repetition. Though simple in line, mark and detail, the essence of the fish comes through and animates the surface of the box. His ability to create such spirited marks speaks to his intuitive and purposeful sense of creation; there are few modern potters who can say so much with so little.

BLUE MONDAY XIV

I would think that this vase is probably not something one sees every day. A bit formal and precise in the throwing, this double walled and reticulated vessel is a nice early work by the late Kato Takuo. Resembling a medieval tiled wall, this Persian glazed vase was hand engraved and pierced to create a statement about the possibilities and influences of such pottery. The addition of gold leaf applied under the glaze speaks to an earlier age of opulence from which the archetypes of this pot spring from. Though an earlier work by Kato, the pot certainly shows the exceptional control and manipulation of clay, glaze and firing that he is well known. In this piece, one can clearly see the promise of more to come together with a more relaxed and spirited aesthetic that he was working toward, day after day and year after year.

THROWN, PINCHED & CUT

Illustrated is large yunomi teacup that I made a while back. Taking a few cues from a famous amber glazed Ohi chawan the piece was first thrown on the thick side and then once it started firming up, I gently push it a slightly off round and pinched the form to get it into the posture I was after. I let it dry a some more and then proceeded to cut fast and very random facets down its sides. I hand tooled the piece first with a sharp piece of bamboo to get the foot I was after and then used a small loop tool to excise some clay in the form of a sharp spiral. Once bisque, I glazed the yunomi in a medium coat of my lepidolite glaze and when fired the sharp lines from the faceted broke to a lighter color creating a nice vertical distraction around the pot. Where the glaze ran the Oribe is a vivid and rich deep green, particularly the cuts around the foot and in the pool of the cup. I am constantly amazed at the versatility and variations within the different Oribe glazes I use and can only wonder, what will the next pot look like blanketed in green.

"Sameness is the mother of disgust, variety the cure." Petrarch (1304-1374)