BLUE WATERFALLS

I have had this jpeg on the hard drive for some time now and it is fair to say that this (and other) Oribe work act as an inspiration for my pursuits as concervative as they may be. This textured Oribe vase was made by Okabe Mineo and has all of the classic characteristics of his work in a compact pot from the visual surface to his textbook green with accents of rich blue waterfalls cascading down here and there adding to the movement and animation of the vase. In the detail shot that I posted up on Monday you can see the same style of running blue as with the Okabe which is hardly a coincidence as it is a technique and surface feature that I admire and believe that it adds quite a lot to a pot as well as to the modern Oribe tradition. I can't help but be amazed at how Okabe Mineo was able to say so much in his pottery with just a well crafted and used texture and a little bit of copper in a glaze.

MACRO DETAIL

Illustrated is a detail shot using the macro feature on my camera of a chawan that has been around for a while. I decided to photograph the bottom of this piece after moving it to get to another pot and the way the light hit it made me think that a good photo would illuminate what the glaze surfaces really looks like. In this case the bowl was carved on the wheel head and then thrown to expand the surface and later glazed in my Oribe and iron wash. The glaze ran quite a bit and formed this vivid copper/iron flow that is high lighted with streaks of varying color and details within and if you look in to the Oribe glaze you can see random particles of copper also puncuating the surface. I must confess that for a surface that started as just another test with a date and number designation, I am pleased that with each firing the results and details always put on a show.

REUNION (NOT THE BAND)

I just put together this short video slideshow of a very nice Iga tokkuri which i received as a thoughful Christmas gift. made by Kojima Kenji who specializes in Ko-Iga pottery, the unique aspect of this piece is that it matches a very fine guinomi also by Kojima and both pieces were made at exactly the same time according to the enclosed bio in each box. I know that people are probably thinking this "ain't necessarily so" but if you consider the infrequency that an anagama is fired, the chances are very good that both pieces, made at the same time, fired in the same kiln and sold at different venues both ended up at the same place over a decade later for a nice, if not belated reunion. By happenstance or cosmic design, the other feature that unites these two pieces is the emerald jewel like bidoro drip that hangs off both pots which were fired on their sides. Coincidence, I don't think so, please enjoy.

IT AIN"T NECASSARILY SO; Henderson and Sting:

BASIC

Back to basics with this bowl, black and white slips, wax resist and my medieval green over; I have made a lot of these pieces but seem to have strayed a bit from this technique. This detail gives a closer perspective of what the surface looks like from the black slip being a bit "droozy" and bleeding to the dust like appearance on the surface that is actually part of the glaze surface under the right light conditions. I like this technique quite a bit as it is spontaneous and playful in nature but at the same time is unforgiving as once the wax goes on either you go through with the application of the black slip or you end up letting the piece dry, bisquing off the wax and ending up with a white slipped bowl! Luckily, I have worked out a hand full of designs that I like and work on the forms I through so there are few pieces that don't make it through to the black slip phase. There is nothing wrong with the basics.

HAPPY NEW YEARS

I wanted to wish everyone a very Happy New Year for the year of the dog, 2018. 2017 has been a rather interesting year reminding me of the apocraphal addage; "may you live in interesting times". I hope that 2018 is a better and more productive year and that some of last years issues disappear with the old calander pages now checked off.

The picture is of an interesting reunion of sorts, the Kojima Kenji guinomi was bought by us back in 2006 and used on my blog previously. As a Christmas gift, I received this Iga tokkuri by Kojima as well, also made in 2006, both from the same exact time as shown on the biographies in each box and quite possibly the very same firing. A wonderful, bidoro pair and quite the pleasurable reunion.

KOBU-SHINO

Soft white feldspar bordered by areas of rich, deep iron filled with cells of texture and color cover this pot from head to toe including the soft and undulating lid and purposeful knob. The truth is that every time you see a pot by Sakai Kobu, the Kobu-Shino immediately identifies exactly what you are looking at and though I have seen a number of mizusashi by him over the years, it seems like it is much more common to encounter his chawan than these larger pieces. As is readily apparent from the photo, Sakai throws his pots so they appear like that have a softness to them, the curvy lines almost look like the pot is in mid-collapse but it is these characteristic attributes that are so appealing to the eye and to the touch that are only accentuated by his skillful use of his modified Shino and iron glazes and his use of slips under the surface. Each pot paints a landscape, a portrait, a still life as the potter sees fit with his pieces resonating at different frequencies to different viewers, this is the beauty of his Kobu-Shino.

IRON & ASH III

After I posted the iron and ash vase last week got me thinking to the sheer number of pots I have made in that combination of glazes, certainly a thousand and more. While going over this combo I remembered a lone bowl that was made as an extras from a set of six that hung around the studio for quite some time until a couple came and took it and a number of other pots home as gifts for a holiday past. I know it will sound odd that I would remember this single bowl which is illustrated but it spent some time near the wheel, covered in clay splatter and filled with slip brushes so i finally decided to clean it up and take a few photos. Though I made extras of the set, the customers picked six of the seven available and left this one which I was particularly happy with as the lines of the form and glaze came out rather well but the ash on the upper half was just different, almost chatoyant in nature like looking in to a wild cat's eyes. Once cleaned up and set on a shelf it became far game and was the first thing sold as some clients came to the studio, I still wonder if I should have left it clay coated and filled with brushes.

And because, who doesn't like Gordon Lightfoot;

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

It is that time of year and at least here the ground is covered in winter's thick white embrace. I just wanted to wish everyone the Happiest of Holidays and a very festive and promising New Year!

HIER EN DAR

Illustrated is a rather robust, exhibition chawan by Kishimoto Kennin. I handled this chawan a while back and always find it interesting when I can correlate an exhibition photo to the pot in hand to get a sense of not only what the bowl looks like to my eye and through my camera lens but also through the vision of a photographer in their studio somewhere in Japan. I will start by saying that the photo I took of the page out of the exhibtion catalogue is a bit washed out but at least from my experience does not capture the richness, depth and power of this Iga chawan which I have tried to portray in my photo. For those interested in technique, using my camera set to automatic focus and with the tungsten filter set to on, I used a 100watt tungsten bulb to photograph this piece and other than to crop the photo, no photo manipulation was undertaken. The photo I ended up with here is exceptionally close to what the chawan looks like in person and unlike the catalogue picture, you can see the depth of the ash surface, the richness of the clay and the perpetual wetness that the pot exudes. I have written about Kishimoto Kennin in previous blog posts, I truly admire how he handles clay and fires his pots from Iga to seiji and all the styles in between, he strive to allow the clay to speak under any natural of added surface and creates pots that add to the traditions in which he works. I was very happy with my experience handling this chawan and being able to see it here and there but it never ceases to amaze me how different a pot can look through two different lens.

TORI-TSUBO

I just received this wonderful porcelain tsubo from a collector to put up on my trocadero marketplace, though quite a nice pot it doesn't quite go with all of his rather rustic, wood fired pieces. The exquisitely painted sparrow and foliage across the surface with vivid watercolor like effects calling to mind a scene right out of early autumn and wraps partially around the tsubo leaving large, imagined areas of negative space. The detail of the painting is rather intricate and obviously owes its inspiration to many of the Meiji era  and 20th century Nihonga painters of which Watanabe Seitei and Konno Bairei immediately springs to mind. I took a group of photos and built this short video slideshow to help fill out the pot and hopefully give a sense of the quality of painting and the essence of 20th century Japanese porcelain painting.

You can see more of this tsubo over at my Trocadero marketplace;

https://www.trocadero.com/stores/albedo3studio/items/1371485/EXCEPTIONALLY-PAINTED-TORI-TSUBO