RUSTY SPOTS

I put together this short video slideshow of this uncomplicated and near perfect yuteki-temmoku tsubo to give a glimpse into what it looks like from a foot or so away. Made by yuteki and tetsu specialist, Hisada Shigeyoshi, this tsubo was expertly thrown and then glazed to show off a rich, dark, blue-black background covered in a vast array of rusty spots that punctuate the form. The majority of the spots seem to be in about four different sizes but it is the large spots around the inside of the mouth that really pull the viewer in, beckoning a further investigation into the interior which is also covered in spots which peer out like stars in some distant galaxy. Though simple in form, the rich and complex surface creates a dialogue that is both quiet and lasting, long after the pot is boxed and put away.

IMPASTO FUJI

Like most people who live with hand made things, over the years we have traded for or collected a number of prints and paintings from both American and Japanese artists. Our Japanese print taste runs along the lines of Mori Yoshitoshi, Oda Mayumi, Clifton Karhu and the obligatory Saito Kiyoshi, more modern artists and though we have a few Nihonga, Rimpa and Zenga kakejiku scrolls and water colors it wasn't until my first introduction to the paintings of Tsukigata Nahiko that I ever considered owning an oil painting. I saw my first Tsukigata painting in 1991 or 1992 while in Japan, it was a really large painting of a Notre Dame in Paris that filled the wall of a reception room in a famous hotel in Osaka. I was in awe of the scale, grandeur and power of the painting but it was the vibrant surface which seemed alive and the thick texture that had me sold. Now don't get me wrong, having seen great paintings of a variety of museums, I would take a Monet, Homer or Church any day but like his ceramics, I find the painting of Tsukigata engaging with a power and manner that speaks to me on almost every level.

Illustrated is a painting of Fuji-yama by Tsukigata Nahiko that was painted in the late 80s or early 90s. I love the way he has captured the snow capped Fuji with the whole image being created in a rather fluid and dynamic impasto style bringing the piece into three dimensions and almost a tactile as his pottery.

FBOFW

Illustrated is the foursome of covered jars that I made several weeks back, for better or for worse. After they were glazed and literally at the last moment I decided to put wadding between top and bottom which in the end saved three of the four pieces from becoming permanently fixed paper weights. I took small, snake like ribbons of wadding and put it at four spots on each of the pieces and it turned out that it was needed on three of the pots, the yellow iron sunset didn't show and hint of running but the Oribe and Ao+ certainly did as the thick, rich glaze rolls will attest. Considering these pieces were made as an after thought and as pieces of the puzzle in loading the kiln, I am pleased with the feedback from the surfaces and carving and they will make for almost any task that you can think up including, but not limited to candy dishes, a plus in my book.

YOU'VE SEEN ONE

I have been very fortunate to have seen a number of potters, both Western and Eastern make teabowl and in doing so also trim or cut a foot in to their pieces. I have been very surprised over the years that when watching potters make Japanese chawan or Japanese inspired teabowls, the approaches are very similar; the use of a single tool and the slow rotation on a banding wheel of sorts. I am certainly not saying that the methods are identical but it is usually only the subtle, attentive details that set apart potters and their feet from one another. Watching potters like Suzuki Goro, Tsujimura Shiro, Kohyama Yasuhisa, Matsuzaki Ken, Suzuki Osamu and others, the formula seems to be the same with just enough idiosyncratic input to differentiate the works of potters dedicated to making chawan. There are of course, exceptions, some extreme when watching potters like Kakurezaki Ryuichi and Kato Tsubusa cut their kodai, but all in all the basic purpose and qualities are necessary to complete the teabowls, so only the individual nuances seperate kodai from potter to potter. I don't want to give the impression that if you've seen one, you've seen them all as each potter creates a kodai from the blank canvas of his piece which is revealed through well practiced cuts, removing clay and blending the positive and negative space that best supports their vision of the chawan.

The accompanying photo is of the kodai celadon specialist, Kato Tsubusa. Cut and almost hacked out of the porcelain  he works with, this is one of the extremes in the dealing with a kodai. As you study the foot, it may look simple in the execution but I would suggest trying it before making any sound judgements. On second thought, best to try several thousand first.

FOR EVERY SEASON

I am amazed sometimes that an act as simple as changing a lid on a pot can make a really impactful difference. Illustrated is two distinct views of a kofuki style mizusashi by Takahashi Samon; on the left with the ceramic lid and on the right with a custom made lacquer one, both creating a striking visual presentation, literally a mizusashi for every season or at least two season. The mizusashi is a classic surface by Takahashi and as you can see both lids compliment the piece in distinct ways, adding to the dramatic movement of the pot established by the crisp, twisted planes that rise from foot to mouth creating a sense of perpetual motion. The smoky, meandering patterns created in the slip, move along the twisting fields adding to the animation of the mizusashi and add a hint of mystery and contemplation making the piece that much more engaging. Adding to the visual appeal of the pot is the adventure that this pot undertook before arriving here, this is the pot that I recounted in a previous blog post entitled; ODDS AGAINST in which the package went missing and when it finally did arrive it looked as if it had been savaged at sea, crushed, mushed and soaking wet but the contents emerged safe and sound. This is one of those pieces that sticks in your mind not only for the wonderful conversationalist that it is but also for the perilous venture it braved like a ceramic version of Homer's ODYSSEY.

FOURSOME

Illustrated is the foursome of covered jars that I made several weeks back. Ironically they came out of a bisque this morning and have now been glazed though I am unsured when they will be fired. I have two kiln loads of terra cotta pieces that have priority and am in the midst of glazing them and plan on loading the kiln this evening. The four stoneware jars have been glazed in Oribe, saffron iron and Ao+ along with a few temmoku and medieval green summer style teabowls. I have found that it is easier to glaze pots in smaller batches as I don't end up rushing and making mistakes as well as some bad decisions. I am hoping to get my stoneware and porcelain pieces glazed and fired sometime next week and will post up a few of the jars once fired provided they survive the whole adventure.

A perfect foursome;

FRAME JOB

I am sure that I am not alone in my love of a rather ubiquitous auction site that from time to time yields little treasures or more aptly put, object which collectors value more than the seller or fellow collectors. The illustrated little kogo is one such prize, a simple Ki-Seto kogo by Toyoba Seiya that is about as timeless and classic in form and function as they come reminding me of a wet, moss covered stepping stone leading one to a tea house or a small shrine well off the beaten path. Toyoba studied with Arakawa Toyozo which is rather apparent looking at this kogo with a glaze that is wet in appearance and has a depth that still allows the clay to speak which is highlighted by the dark, rich crinkled texture that frames the top of the piece. Having learned well from his master, Toyoba tends to create pots that are in no way fussy or contrived, most have a certain simplicity to the lines and concept of the form with glazes that compliment the pots to near perfection. Perhaps the one characteristic of this kogo that I enjoy beyond the form and feudal surface is the casual way both clay and glaze was handled with a single fingerprint to both punctuate the overall presentation of the piece but to also act as an ad-hoc marker to instruct the viewer/user how and where the halves line up. Does it get any more extemporaneous than this?

OUT OF THE GROUND

Anyone that has been to the studio of Tsujimura Shiro is probably most shocked at the sheer number of pots stacked up on the ground about his property, from large tsubo to tokkuri and guinomi with every imaginable pot in between. Such was the case for this mizusashi, half buried in earth and grass and with the lid still stuck on the piece from the firing, a collector decided on this pot for his purchase as the color and form of the lid, mouth and lugs called out, "I am the one". Once retreived and clean, the medieval, rustic attributes of the Iga water jar were on full display exuding a strength and fundamental qualities of an ideal Tsujimura pot. The pot was well wrapped though without a box which would have taken two weeks to provide, but the new owner was more than pleased with his pottery and the experience where his new pot was taken from the ground as was the original material, dug and processed out of the earth to become a pot guided by the hands of Tsujimura Shiro.

EYE LEVEL

Though I have a large table adjacent to my wheel to work on, I always seem to migrate to the wheel to do an handbuilding, altering, assembly, etc. When I am handbuilding, I have a old piece of Formica that I place over my splash guard to act as a work station and in the case of attaching knobs, handles or lugs as well as carving, I put a banding wheel on top of the wheel head and get to work. In this particular case, I needed to get the pot closer to eye level so once the bands were carved on the spinning wheel head I set about building a totem that gets me as close to the pot as possible for both the right angle and attitude of carving but for the right lighting and field of vision as well. Behind my wheel I have a clip on lamp with a 100watt bulb that helps illuminate the workspace and I must admit, after making pots for so long, I just feel comfortable and perhaps a bit more at home on the wheel as I do anywhere else in the studio.

HOW SWEET IT IS

This particular guinomi is one of those small gems that make it easy to understand not only the love of saké but of guinomi, salt firing, wood firing and the work of Ningen Kokuho, Shimaoka Tatsuzo. Though diminutive in scale, the is nothing small in the execution, design and firing of this guinomi having all of the bells and whistles a viewer or collector would want from the potter. From form, purposeful and well cut foot, impressed rope decoration and a mixed, misty infusion of cobalt from the salt and ash from the wood firing, everything comes together to paint a portrait of a perfect Shimaoka piece. All that is left is to get out a truly wonderful bottle of bourbon (or saké) and revel in "how sweet it is".