LYRICAL PATTERN

A friend sent me this picture that he found somewhere on the web, so I apologize if this is your picture. At first glance it looks like a Kawai school pot, possibly even Ueda Tsuneji, but in fact, it is another Kimura Ichiro molded vase, this time in vivid and active nerikomi patterning. Using his stoneware with oxides to darken it, Kimura made slabs out of the three clays, patterned together to push into a press mold made in the style of his teacher, Hamada Shoji. This bottle shape is very common and it is the subtle nuances that sets the potters apart as much as the decoration and glazing. The bottle, glazed in a thin clear has developed wonderfully lyrical pattern which emphasizes not only the vertical but the horizontal nature of the pot. I love the movement of the pot and once again, Kimura proves the value of two tried and true techniques in molded bottle and nerikomi but succeeds in making a personal statement with his own creative voice within the large body of Mashiko pottery.

"A man's style is his mind's voice. Wooden minds, wooden voices."   Ralph Waldo Emerson

GAMEDAY

After my post of the Kimura "cubist" henko, I was asked about the so-called football style henko. First off, the football moniker is entirely mine and it is how I see the piece from the perspective of viewing it straight on. Illustrated is one of these molded football pots that I handled a number of years ago. Once the pot came out of the plaster press mold, it was dipped in slip and once bisque, it was glazed in a transparent ash clear glaze with a rich kaki accent on the mouth and decorations of amber spots with copper squiggles over the whole in an Okinawan (Tsuboya )style. The pot looks very dated as it appears having been made sometime in the late 1950's or 1960's, but when used as a vase, it takes on an entirely different appearance. Ultimately, it is the simplicity of design and decoration and a dependence on the Mashiko tradition that makes exploring the works of Kimura Ichiro so enjoyable.

A BETTER VIEW

Illustrated is a large flared mouth, trumpet style vase with incised decoration of a repeated design around the shoulder of the pot. The vase was glazed first in one Oribe glaze and then dipped again in a thinner version of the same glaze with 1% iron added to the mix leading to wispy tendrils of running glaze effects which are especially noticeable at the bottoms of the grouped incised marks. I decided to add the larger, detailed view so that one could get a better perspective of what the surface actually looks like and how the glaze responds to the incised decoration. An overall shot, from a distance just doesn't give the fuller picture of what the surface has to say.

For more pictures of this recently fired pot, please take a look at the listing;

http://www.trocadero.com/albedo3studio/items/1225365/item1225365store.html

THOROUGHLY MASHIKO

My first encounter with the work of Kimura Ichiro was back in the very early 1980's, I had acquired a group of exhibition catalogues from a book dealer and among them was one on Kimura from 1976. There was quite the array of pieces from thrown to the molded henko pots and each had a distinctly folk art look of Mashiko-yaki. On our first trip to Japan in 1990 and subsequent ones we were able to see a large number of his pots especially in Mashiko, where his work was displayed in a number of galleries. What became immediately apparent was that while Hamada Shoji was a product of a variety of his experiences and travels, it is safe to say, Kimura Ichiro was a product of Mashiko and the community and lifestyle that Hamada and other Mashiko potters had crafted out of a long standing craft tradition. Kimura Ichiro (1915-1978) studied with Hamada Shoji prior to WW II and after his apprenticeship set up his studio and kiln in Mashiko and fired his first kiln load of pots in1947. Like fellow Hamada students Shimaoka Tatsuzo and Murata Gen, Kimua Ichiro has gone on to be a major fixture of Mashiko pottery and was part of a major exhibit of Mashiko potters in the late 90's. His son, Kimura Mitsuru, continues in his father's footsteps.

Illustrated is a form that appears creatively composed of stacked blocks around a central core; this signature vase by Kimura Ichiro changes with each angle and perspective it is viewed. Having a touch of M.C. Escher in its design, this clearly is one of his best and most well known forms along with his more traditional Hamada Shoji style molded bottle and his quirky "football" style henko. The pot is covered in a yellow ash glaze with red high-lighted quadrants with white and copper accented sprigs of floral decoration on both front and back. This vase is a rather purposeful and resolute piece that has volumes to say about Mashiko-yaki and Japanese pottery of the post-war period; function, design and presence.

INTRODUCTIONS, IF YOU PLEASE

At the insistence of my wife and possibly to preserve what tiny amount of sanity I still have, Mindy found me a new studio assistant. His name is Gosu-mezzer-Khan, Khan for short and like most assistants, he will have to be taught the fundamentals which I can only assume will be challenging. Khan is an old style Siamese seal point and I am not 100% he was born, rather created in an evil genius' laboratory as he is equal parts jet engine, cuddly toy, industrial coiled spring and military grade explosives. Like his predecessor, I doubt he will be much help mixing glazes, packing orders or unloading trucks, but his presence and companionship will be welcome none the less.

A very thoughtful internet friend sent the following Kinky Friedman quote from an obituary of his cat in relationship to our loss of Jun, I think it applies to cats, living or remembered; "Dogs have a depth of loyalty that often we seem unworthy of. But the love of a cat is a blessing, a privilege in this world."

SCHOOL

Illustrated is the companion piece to the large Swarm of eels plate by Bruce Gholson. The porcelain plate has various glazes inlaid to complete rather detailed and realistic fish swimming across the creamy surface which is accented by small areas of isolated carbon trapping. Together the pair of large plates make an excellent display and make a statement about a rather playful and adventurous spirit in glaze.

FLOCK

Though I do a lot of drawing/doodling, quite a few of the designs I execute by carving or painting come about rather quickly, almost spontaneously while working and listening to music. Though I no longer just start painting or carving, I quickly rough out the idea in pencil or ink and set about finishing the idea. This flock pattern came about just that way, for some reason I was thinking about the old Mad Magazine Spy Vs. Spy cartoons while listening to some 80's music and the idea just dropped on to the bowl. First roughed out in ink and then fairly quickly carved.  In this case, the bowl is porcelain and covered in black slip which was carved to create images through the black and then later glazed in a seiji style glaze. I am willing to bet, it isn't too hard to guess what I was listening to when I got this idea.

UNABASHED SIMPLICITY

"No matter how many times you do this, it still seems miraculous" is a quote from Jack Troy from an interview on the radio for PA People and a splendid insight in to his nature and in fact, that of many potters and other craftsman. One thing that sets Troy apart from the pack is his eloquent abilities in speaking and writing about pottery, not to mention his skill at presenting unabashed simplicity in his work. His forms, developed intuitively over decades of creating, have become like mannequins for designer garb, the forms are created and the anagama wood kiln dresses them in varying garments of natural ash at intense temperatures. The pots, many of them made of porcelain are introduced into the kiln, sans glaze and through the also miraculous process of stoking the wood kiln ever 15 minutes or so over many days, the pots are made whole and are allowed to become what the fire and ash had in store for them. The illustrated teabowl by Jack Troy is a beast of a pot in scale, though it has a simple and humble nature with the marks of the potter  cloaked in glassy ash, creating gesture and animation that draws one in to investigate the line of the pot ultimately tipping into the ash covered interior. The simple curves and wandering lip are exactly the seduction that every pottery collector knows all too well and completes the conversation with the pot on a multitude of levels; simple in its beauty, but certainly no simple pot.

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)