Though
not exactly clay related, well not related at all, I thought this carved and
lacquered komainu was pretty cool none the less. The main part of the head
is carved out of a single block of wood with the jaw, ears and horn all being
seperate pieces that fit in to this well constructed piece. Over the years I
have seen a number of komainu and shishi made in this style in both plain,
unadorned wood and in kin-urushi, golden lacquer but this one is just a bit
different. This particular piece was made by the famous Toyama wood carver and
Toyama Prefectural Designated Intangable Asset; Yokoyama Kazuo (1911-2000).
Though very well known for his articulated Shishi and Ikaku heads, Yokoyama
also carved a wide variety of Buddhist figures, flowers, fish, hawks/eagles and
decorative ramma for homes and temples. I said that this had literally nothing
to do with clay but in certain respects that is not true as the very same
things that draw me to pottery also grasps my attention in many of the other
applied arts, namely; individuality, skill, creativity, expressiveness and
above all a voice that shines through to maintain a meaningful conversation
between material, artist, craftsman and viewer.
I
know I have adressed this issue in a previous blog post but I am always amazed
that despite having a fairly reasonable space for a studio how quickly I run
out of space when I get working, especially toward holiday shows and restocking
galleries. I have two banks of shelves that I use to store and dry pots as well
as one 8' table in the main room of the studio and another of similiar size in
a room behind the studio that is used to store bubble wrap, bags of chemicals,
inventory and an area to photograph. All these spaces, every nook and cranny
fills up rather quickly within two weeks of non-stop throwing and trimming.
During this process the only thing that slows me down is the necessity to slip
and slip trail or carve (tebori) a percentage of the work. The photo shows three
pieces occupying the space on my slab roller which I use every now and again to
take quick photos but in this instance, this is where the covered pot and two
trumpet style vases will reside until they are dry and then decorated. The other
side of the slab roller is still free of pots but is currently home to a box of
slip jars, a plastic jar of brushes and a container with the tools I use everyday.
I enjoy this time of year when I get to work long days, throw non-stop and am
as busy as I can get but there are drawbacks with so much stuff filling nearly
every space it is a bit like working in a maze where any false move can spell
disaster. Unlike the motto, "measure twice and cut once" the motto
for these days in the studio is "look twice and move very, very slowly".
I
think when discussing a specific work by a potter it is easy to say that he
isn't known for this or that instead of saying that his is best known for
whatever they are known for. I think I made this simple mistake a week or so
back when I was writing about this very cool mizusashi made by veteran ceramic
artist, Morino Taimei. While it is safe to say that Morino is best known for
his predominantly blue based or iron red based vessels, he is in fact known to
have made a number of chawan and mizusashi over the years. In this case using
several glazes and wax resist, Morino has made a typical smaller form with a
classic design using overglaze enamel and luster to create a decoration he is
well known for. The surface is a well articulated balance of the pebbly black
and grey green with the resisted area up on the shoulder nicely defining the
face of the pot and adding a nice sense of irregularity to the form. Though
this Morino mizusashi has already moved on to a new home it was a pleasure to
handle, study and photograph and the visit will linger despite its three
dimensional absence.
Looking
a bit like ripe persimmons hanging off an impromptu bamboo trellis, the design
on this chawan reminds me of the work of Ishiguro Munemaro but is clearly the
inspired decoration of the multi-talented Uchida Koichi (b.1969). I enjoy
Uchida's works quite a bit and there is a lot to enjoy as his forms, surfaces
and styles are quite varied and he is equally skilled at most of what he
attempts and this chawan is certainly a textbook example. The form, glaze and
decoration are in such harmony with each other it is simply a perfect bowl
right down to the well dressed kodai and his choice of clay, everything is just
right. The foot is thrown and cut in such a way to create a wonderful lift for
the form and emphasizes the negative space under the main portion of the bowl
leading the eye to the slight irregularity of the form and wandering mouth. I
am captivated by the rich decoration which could have easily been created by a
much earlier potter but was captured by a modern potter who is as dedicated to
the old as he is the new and it shows in his work.
I had forgot that I had taken this photo until I was looking around for a photo
to send to a potential customer and thought I would post it. This group was all
made at about the same time and fired in back to back glaze firings in and
about the kiln to fill spaces in some unique ways due to their varying shapes.
This photo reminds me on one of those obligatory class photos from back in
grade and high school and gives a good perspective of the various forms and
surfaces that I managed to create while making other more tried and true pots
that filled the kiln. Though these forms deviate just a bit from the thrown
round, I wonder what forms to work on next; dodecahedron, octahedron, or
possibly the holy grail, the icosahedron teabowl!
Okay,
I can hear a number of people going, what the heck am I looking at and
understandably so. I have had this piece sitting on a shelf that gets indirect
light from a light in the hallway and as you walk in the room, this is what you
see, shimmering back at you from the dark room like some image beamed back from
the Hubble telescope. What you are actually looking at is a detail shot of a
Matsuzaki Ken Yohen-Shino mizusashi which has created a surface which is a
contrast of a thick snowy white feldspar Shino and areas of nebulus iridescence
that shows up under the right lighting conditions otherwise it looks like an
iron rich, almost caramel colored Shino glaze. There is never a dull moment
with this surface as it changes with every degree of angle it is viewed at and
is painted through a fierce determination of the will of the potter and the
demanding and ferocious nature of the kiln firing stoked by various woods and
charcoal. I am a huge fan of complex surfaces that give the viewer not only a
lot to think about but a great amount of conversation regarding pot and
process, though many pots can be much ado about nothing, this Matsuzaki Ken pot
is certainly not one of those.
I'll
start out by saying that I am not 100% sure where this photo comes from and if
it is "yours" I apologize for using it and also thank you for putting
it up on the web. I was struck by the sheer simplicity and power of this
wondrous Koie Ryoji mizusashi which is unfettered with detail or contrived
detail, it is pure form, adorned only with a rich glaze and his classicly
incised decoration. The glaze paints this pot creating a simple narrative with
points of extreme interest where the glaze has pooled to create almost
mysterious areas of contemplation and focus. I have always been mesmerized by
Koie's inate ability to say so very much with what at times appears to be so
little but as you really study his pottery and this piece in particular, there
are details and subtlties that are easy to miss and it is here that he excells.
I am reminded that it is easy to make grand and bold statements that act like
diversions but subtlty, simplicity and honest gestures can make a pot that is far
more captivating and compelling and the conversation all the richer for it if
you just stop and "smell the roses" every now and again.
It's
another Monday, the beginning of the second week of a new cycle so I started
the day throwing several varieties of bowls including this meduim size serving
bowl. After throwing a group of eight bowls it really dawned on me just how
many bowls I have made in my time making pots and that is excluding teabowls. I
have always made a great number of bowls from two to ten pounds followed by
covered serving bowls and plates of all sizes, I don't think I can even guess
at this point how many I have made. Going way back to my days at CSU I can
remember days where I was all caught up on my tasks as ceramic assistant to
fill a number of 8' long folding tables with bowls, at least 40 but likely
quite a bit more. I am not bragging as I certainly know there are potters who
make way more stuff than I ever will, I am only reflecting on how the bowl form
is so elemental and essential to both potters and those that use them. It seems
that everyone needs bowls, everyone uses bowls and by making hand made bowls it
keeps at least a small percentage of the world from using plastic or
commercially manufactured pieces. I am realistic enough to understand not
everyone wants a hand thrown ceramic bowl but at some place in the back of my
mind I believe that an object made by hand can at the very least bring some
measure of beauty and contact between material, maker and user that has helped
nurish the world for thousands of years. I would like to think that my bowl,
ready to be cut off the wheel head is in some way a small part of that
tradition.
I
really enjoy the pottery of Kawai Takeichi (Bu'ichi), not because like many
collectors I can not afford Kawai Kanjiro's work but rather because I see his
pieces as an extension and continuation of the ideal and ideas that his master
is so well known for. I suspect that many pottery students rely on copying or
creating works in the style of but Kawai Takeichi saw the heights of his
teacher as a challenge and deciding to work within the confines of the Kawai-mon,
tradition, he managed to create pieces which are not copies but rather are
unique to the potter and still maintain a visual that is recognizable for where
they sprung. This wonderful gosu blue koro is an excellent example of Kawai
Takeichi's work, style, idea, form and surface are easily to identify but it
clearly falls within the unique confines of the style and school which his
master is so well known for. Though a simple koro, there are complex, small
details that display the mastery of this particular ideal and dedication to
function and the mingei movement while showing off a sense of design particular
to Takeichi and the Japanese aesthetic. There are a lot of reasons why I
thoroughly enjoy Kawai Takeichi's pottery and this small gosu koro is just
about all the reason that I need.
Like
a simple set up for a comedy routine or a music video, you can ask yourself,
what do you get when you take a simple form, a ferocious firing and one such
possible outcome is this lean Matsuzaki Ken vase. Showcasing a variety of wood
fired effects, this simple yet elegant form is exceptionally well fired without hiding any of the defining lines or cluttering up the
surface allowing for the idea and grace of the pot to be easily visible to the
viewer. Having wood fired a number of times myself, I can say that though you may have
a sense of where pots should be placed in the kiln, every firing is different
and as such the surface comes out based on a wide array of factors that are not
totally in the control of the potter, the fire has way too much sway over the outcome.
That being said, this Matsuzaki vase is just as close to being perfectly fired
as possible with its surface painted by fire and ash to stellar effect. The
shoulders and side of the pot have a wonderful build up of ash that creates a
lot of variation in one many may refer to as "another brown pot" with
hints of the surface treatment articulating the surface where a sureform tool
or rasp was used to help defing the angles and planes of the piece. As the song
goes, with the somewhat random end result in question, "how did I get
here?" and the answer is a mastery and dedication to a violent and labor
intensive process and a great sense of form.
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