HIDASUKI

Illustrated is a large tsubo by Tamba veteran, Ichino Etsuo. Made sometime around 1992 the face of the piece was actually the bottom of the pot while it was being fired, resting on its belly with straw underneath to create the hidasuki style cord markings that look like they have been framed by hiiro and other ash effects. Though this tsubo has a lot in common with the other Ichino Etsuo pot I post a while back, the surface of this is less controlled and shows the nature and ferocity of the fire contained within a wood kiln with a strong, rich coating of ash running across the back of this pot. Over the years I have not seen a lot of Etsuo's work, perhaps two dozen pieces from chawan, mizusashi and tsubo but each one has a strong and simple form accentuated by experience and intuition when using nothing more than clay and flame to create and paint his works.

MG&T

Illustrated is a detail shot of the inside of a medieval green and temmoku pasta bowl about 14" of so in diameter. Sometimes as I am going through a cycle, I rush by the past in a hurry and forget about surfaces that are tried and true and compliment what I am doing at the moment and this glaze combination never, or rarely fails me. I thought this detail shot really shows what the glaze looks like and allows the faux oil spotting to stand out rather clearly against the mottled, tortoise style texture of the medieval green glaze with its floating spots of iron balanced against the design. Considering both of these glazes started from nothing except what little I have learned about making glazes over the years, I am pleased with the depth and texture they both present and am happy with the variety that is compounded under varying light sources. Though this is not an Oribe glaze, I am reminded about a quote that I read in which the author/potter mentioned; "why would I need anything but green, the possibilities are endless".

MEMORIAL DAY 2017

"In the world it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich." Henry Ward Beecher

UNCONVENTIONAL

I have written about Konishi Heinai II previously who is known for his rather idiosyncratic Shigaraki and Raku wares of which this chawan is a classic and dynamic example. Though Konishi was not part of the Raku family tradition and rarely identified his pieces as such, this evocative chawan was produced using the nearly four century old Raku process where a pot is glazed and then plucked out of the kiln at a fairly low temperature. The rather interesting thing about Heinai's works is that since he is not bound by any strict convention and spent time with another "unconventional" potter, Kawakita Handeishi, his pots have a uniqueness and individuality about them that certainly makes his pots stand out among other chadogu makers. Though well known for what one would or could classify as aka-raku and kuro-raku, it is his less conventional Raku pieces that have quite a bit to say and even more to contemplate as these pieces display a vision intent on its own voice. This particular surface paints an alluring landscape that reminds me of a combination of the Taisho-Showa Nihonga painters infused with a strong dose of the 20th century abstract expressionists, a blend that works well to compliment the rather sturdy and purposeful form. Over the years I have handled and seen a number of Raku (and Shigaraki) pieces by Konishi Heinai II and I am never disappointed with the imaginative, lustrous and thought provoking surfaces that he has plied to his three dimensional canvases.

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought."  Matsuo Basho  (1644-1694)

SLOOP

Sloop; Dutch- sloep, a sailing boat with a single mast and a fore-and-aft rig

Growing up I was always fascinated by the age of the sail and great wooden sailing ships, large and small and took every opportunity to watch all of the classic swashbuckler movies with Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power and many others. Luckily I grew up on Lake Champlain the site of the great Revolutionary War Battle Of Valcour Island and a lake filled with every type of boat you could imagine including fast and sleek sloops populated the water. Later on I spent a decade in Cleveland and Lake Erie and then again in Guilford, CT on the Long Island Sound a gateway to the Atlantic and lots of boats, many powered solely by sail. The point I am trying to get to is that having indirectly been around boats for a good portion of my life and fascinated by great sea battles building pots based on the posture of these vessels only seemed natural.


Over time I have made a number of teapots that were very influenced on sailing vessels from the battleships of WW1 (the Jutland T-pots) to thrown and altered pieces like this piece that borrowed heavily from sloops I saw as a kid and teen and this piece is fully functional and holds enough for two generous cups of tea or what have you. Thrown as a cylinder without top or bottom, the piece was pushed oval and then cut, darted and reassembled into the current form you see here being careful not to disturb the gallery where the lid would fit. Once firm enough, I humped the lid upside down on the gallery, dried it a bit and cut it to fit adding a pulled handle to appear like a banner flowing in the wind. I decided to put together this short video slideshow to help give a fuller account of the proportions and lines of this teapot and hope it helps.

Still surf rockin' after four decades;

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)

PROPER ORIENTATION

A short while back I had a collector send me a Shigaraki chaire by Kanzaki Shiho and by sheer coincidence a kogo  arrived the very next day also by him. The Shigaraki kogo is quite earthy and has a nice rustic appeal perfect for use in the tea ceremony or with ro or furo for other purposes. The top and some of the sides of the kogo has a nice blanket of ash while the rest has a rich fire color off set by marks made to animate the piece as well as to help establish the proper orientation of the lid to the base. The interior has a pink to reddish blush as does the base where it is prominently marked with the potters signature. Kanzaki Shiho is known for his dramatic, ten day long firings in his anagama wood kiln and this kogo shows some of the effects that his firings have to offer.

CONCOCTION

 

I threw a group of test bowls for my last firing, some were slipped and others were impressed with a texture pattern around the bowl. I have been working on figuring out how my current Oribe surface reacts with glazes and washes put over the surface of which this teabowl is one of the results. Using a heavily textured piece it was first glazed in the Oribe and then had a wash of iron painted on the surface, once dry it was then lightly sprayed with "drifting iron" concoction using a glaze atomizer. The results are a bit difficult to see in the photo though I tried to light up the surface as bright as possible but it is hard to see the metallic sheen and droozy quality that the overglaze had on the piece. The surface runs from the bright green of the Oribe to areas of rich dark black suffused with reddish iron areas and hints of metallic grey and deep burgundy brown areas under the right light which you can catch a glimpse of around the lip. In truth, I got much more than I bargained for or expected and think these tests are worth the time, clay and energy it takes to work them out. I am not sure what the next course of action will be but since there is so many more possibilities; another cycle, another group of tests.

NO FLOWERS

Though there are no flowers in this vase, its purpose is clear, this well fired pot was created to hang. Made by Hori Ichiro, this Ki-Seto kake-ire was boldly and  traditionally wood fired and has a wonderful landscape effected by the ash and flame of the kiln giving it a dramatic feudal presence. The rich variations in the surface together with the direct form, spatula work and wonky mouth all come together to create a great little piece that is both elemental and timeless. Through a masterful use of Ki-Seto, Seto-Guro and Shino a portrait of a potter in absolute harmony with his clay, glazes and kiln(s) is displayed together with a powerful command of Momoyama and modern elements fused together in the works of a Mino potter, Hori Ichiro.

竹林

When I have discussions with people in person or by email that know very little about Japan, there are several cultural attributes that most everyone is aware of; sushi, kimono, Mount Fuji, chrysanthemums, Samurai/Ninja and bamboo. In fact, bamboo is one of the stalwart designs and decorations of Japan going back to even Neolithic times and in later times was part of what the Chinese and Japanese literati referred to as the Four Gentleman or the Four Noble Ones; the plum blossom. the orchid, the chrysanthemum and bamboo. To see how intertwined and developed the bamboo motif is you have to look no further than the illustrated futamono, covered box form by Oda Aya (b.1947). Decorated in a Rimpa influenced style the box form acts as canvas to multiple layers of overglazes and firings to create a surfaces which married visual and tactile textures with a shimmery copper background highlighting the surface. Oda Aya lives and works in Shiga prefecture and his work is typically decorated with naturalistic motifs such as seashells, cats, flowers of various types, bamboo, etc. of which this box, Bamboo Grive is an excellent example.  His work has been juried into numerous Nihon Kogie Kai Exhibitions over the years and he won the International Color Painting Gold medal in 1997 and the prestigious Grand Prize Excellence Award in 2012 for his tea ceramics. Oda has been collected by numerous private and public collections including the Ueno Royal Museum, the Miho Museum and museums in France and the United States. This classic box by Oda is a wonderful example of his work which is not particularly well known outside of Japan but it is a wonderful blend of the art of Rimpa, modern Japanese pottery and a design element which is readily identified as one of the iconic symbols of Japan.