NOT A THING TO DO WITH POTTERY

When I am looking at, thinking about or making pottery, I am constantly trying to get at what it is that makes something good. What are the attributes or components that make the whole cohesive, understandable and superior? Though this has little to do with pottery, what springs to mind is the 1961 Japanese film; YOJIMBO. For those that have seen YOJIMBO, what is immediately apparent is that the movie is nearly flawless, perfect if you will, nothing superfluous and seemingly simple in construction and plot, after all, even Clint Eastwood and Bruce Willis tried their hand at the story line. That being said, the story line crafted by Akira Kurosawa and Kikushima Ryuzo is exceptional, the cinematography by Miyagawa Kazuo and direction by Kurosawa is both innovative and truthful, the musical score by Sato Masaru adds subtle depth to the narrative of the film and the clash of protagonist played by Mifune Toshiro and antagonist, Nakadai Tatsuya will likely go down in history as sheer character perfection. As I think of this film, it reminds me of all the "things" that need to go together perfectly to create a masterpiece and the more thought I give this, the more impossible it seems. I guess 1961 must have been a great year for assembling just the right pieces/parts in the form of a simple and highly enjoyable little film.

 

TEXTBOOK

I have written about Takeuchi Kimiaki (1948-2011) before in my blog and suffice it to say, he was a giant within the field of modern Tokoname pottery. Takeuchi took cues and direction from not only his master, Ezaki Issei, but fellow Tokoname potters such as Osako Mikio and Ogawa Yukihiko. Together, the group forged a rebirth into the pottery of Tokoname and each became synonymous with their own unique styling. Illustrated is a large hachi by Takeuchi Kimiaki that could stand as the textbook or signature style of his body of work. The surface has had a glassy green ash glaze "flung" across its surface with careful and well thought out design and the rest of the pot is adorned with effects of a wood firing that has peppered the surface with speckles of ash and the body richly reduced by charcoal created during the firing. As I mentioned, this style of plate is a classic example of his work and I have seen several of this hachi in print used to represent the potter for a vivid and creative style he was well known for. I am always amazed at the clash between such a perfectly thrown plate adorned with what appears to be such casual decoration; a method that is well practiced and highly successful as it was developed from the very core of a modern Tokoname potter.

IRON & ASH

I am still in the process of playing with the Oribe glaze I am calling Shin-Oribe. It is a very forgiving glaze and takes meddling with it quite well. Currently I am using a thin iron and ash glaze over it to give it a greater depth of color and activity which in turn leads to a significant amount of the outer glaze running. Illustrated is a recent paddled water jar with the Shin-Oribe and iron-ash glaze over. The paddled texture together with the running surface gives the pot a much more animated surface and in the end, leads to a more interesting pot. My next time out, I plan to add a handful of ash to the Oribe glaze itself and see where that takes it and as with many things it is the journey of the testing and serendipity that is the greatest reward.

You can see a few more pictures of this Oribe water jar over on my Trocadero marketplace; http://www.trocadero.com/stores/albedo3studio/items/1247842/item1247842store.html

"It  does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop."    Confucius

 

 

IN USE

I recently had a very pretty seihakuji benisai vase by Morino Kako pass through my hands. The vase has found a new home and the new owner sent me a picture of the pot in use in front of her fireplace. There is always something exceptionally satisfying about seeing pots being used for the everyday, the formal occasion and for varying ceremony, it is the fait acompli for most pottery. In this particular case the evocative, lush green and yellow of the iris amplifies the colors and purpose of the vase and adds a punctuation to the function of the Chinese inspired vase. As a functional potter, a pot in use is a pot complete.

(Photo courtesy of a private collector.)

YOHEN

Illustrated is a large and simple yunomi with a rather interesting glaze over thick slip. The glaze is called yohen, for kiln change and varies depending on how the kiln is fired. Using a feldspar/amblygonite base the glaze is capable of a wide array of surfaces including this highly iridescent one especially over slips with varying additions of oxides and carbonates. For those of you unfamiliar with amblygonite, it is a rather neat material having certain properties similar to both spodumene and lepidolite and is worth testing out from cone 6 to10. All in all this a rather fun glaze to use and the texture and movement added to the piece with the use of a thick slip just adds to the experience.

10,000 HOURS

There is that old adage that it takes 10,000 hours to master something or become an expert at it. I wonder how that relates to a potter with a piece of bamboo cutting the kodai on a pot, is it relative to hours or number of pots? If you think about how many pots a potter makes, especially a Japanese potter who hand cuts the feet on many of his pieces, how many pieces did it take to get good at mastering what seems to be such a simple task that is in fact, exceptionally difficult? The illustration is a video grab from a video of Suzuki Osamu cutting a foot out of fairly wet clay with only a sharpened piece of wood. His cuts are direct, fast and well practiced, almost to a formula, but if you have seen many feet on his pots, it is obvious each and every one has its own personality and distinctness while relating back to his body of his work. As I watch his video, I ask myself, does it ever get as easy as he makes it appear?

MYTHIC

Illustrated is a handbuilt beaked pitcher I made a long while back, I recently found the slides and had them converted to digital. Relying on a bit of myth with some liberties taken in terms of the details, the pitcher depicts the tale of Icarus, portrayed as a female on the one side and Europa and the Bull on the other, and yes I know that Zeus was portrayed as a white bull but black worked better for the graphics! I have always been rather fascinated with world mythology and it routinely makes its way onto my pots in a wide variety of depictions from representational to abstract. In this example, the fully functional pitcher presented two large panels to paint on owing some homage to ancient Greek and Roman fresco. At the end of the day, this was a fun pot to build and even more fun to paint.

Here is a classic from the very late 1980s; Michael Penn NO MYTH (1989)

 

YU-TV

Here is another short NHK promotional video for a special on Bizen Ningen Kokuho; Fujiwara Yu (1932-2001). Following in his father's rather large footsteps, Fujiwara Yu produced a large number of exceedingly well fired pots as well as a body of large tsubo of varying forms as well. Enjoy the video, a great place to brush up on your Nihongo at the same time.

THOSE FAMILIAR ARCHES

Cloaked in a soft, vellum like Persian blue glaze the all too familiar repeated arches design remind one of an ancient cathedral or Roman temple from ages long past. Combining the modern skills of the potter, together with an ancient tradition and design, the vase stands calmly while evoking a myriad of associations, something ever present in the works of the late Kato Kenji. His works have a sense of endurance and longevity that is not always captured by potters. Like the archetypes, I always sense a dependence on the past while looking far into the future using elements and techniques of a time gone by; Kato Kenji stands on the shoulders of numerous potters who laid the foundations for a noble tradition that has made its way to the 21st century.

T&A

Illustrated is a T&A (thrown and altered) ishime style teapot with my "landscapeman" design incised and inlaid around the piece. The pot started life as a simple cylinder that was then altered by making it oval, darting the clay and reassembling the form as it appears. Once assembled, I put it on the wheel and created the mouth and short neck to accept a thrown lid. The spout, lid, foot and handle have all been glazed in a shiny transparent black glaze to add contrast to the piece and the interior has a clear liner glaze as well. I would love to claim this was entirely my idea, but it actually stems from a TV show I saw while in Japan. On the show, a woman took a sheet of paper, made it into a cylinder and then made a few cuts and a few moments later, there was a ball. It only seemed natural that you could take the original idea and adapt it to clay, just waiting to be turned into a teapot.