SUNNY IDEAL

We had our first day of real sunshine here today, the first in a long time so I took the opportunity to move some pots around and let the sun shine down on this small pot. Besides being a gift from Warren MacKenzie way back in the 90s, I have always been quite fond of this amber celadon and wood ash glazed "utensil holder" for the purposeful form, the wonderful texture, the thick, durable mouth and the applied feet which change the shadow line of the pot. Thrown out of porcelain, this pot has a great weight to it, made to stand up to the rigors of daily use for which it was intended though it is used infrequently here instead holding a place of reverence as well as serving as an ideal about what it means to truly be a functional pot.

PASSING OF A GIANT

                                Warren MacKenzie 
      February 16, 1924 – December 31, 2018

JUST A JAR

Illustrated is a rather classic Shigaraki tsubo with a traditional net pattern paddled across the surface. This large tsubo was made by veteran Shigaraki staple, Takahashi Shunsai  and is fired in a rather typical fashion for the potter with areas of wet and dry ash coverage together with areas of fine hi-iro fire color. Born in 1927, Shunsai studied under his father Rakusai III who is credited with bringing attention back to traditional Shigaraki pottery of the region as well as revitalizing the tradition as a whole. Takahashi Shunsai's works follows in his father's footsteps where he has added his own voice to the family business which is balanced against the work of his brother Rakusai IV. Did I mention it was big, at over 13" tall and 17" wide it makes for a rather impressive, timeless display piece that captures what 20th century Shigaraki is all about while having just a hint of the modern in its bearing and form. There is a rather nice catalogue which showcases Shunsai's jars; THE SHIGARAKI WARE; NAOKATA'S TEA WARE & SHUNSAI'S JARS, illustrating a number of wonderful tsubo and surfaces that any 20th or 21st Century Shigaraki potter would be proud to create.

HNY

KARATSU WASH

I am not that familiar with the painter and print artist Akizuki Akira (b. 1923) but I do know that I was drawn in to this ink wash painting (?) of a rather simple tsubo. The use of soft washes and shadowed bottom and highlighted neck and mouth create a rather lyrical image of a typical E-Garatsu style pot. The simple addition of the iron decoration on the face of pot done in a darker brown/black ink which at the very least captures the heart and nature of a simple, humble Karatsu tsubo. Perhaps what interests me most is how these various 2-D artists perceive the "essence" of pottery and then manages to present their understanding of the piece in a different format. In recent years there have been a number of pottery enthusiast artists, most notably Daniel Kelly and Joel Stewart who create both paintings and prints showing off the beauty of traditional Japanese pottery and like them, Akizuki has made quite a few works with pottery as a main focus showcasing what it is that the pot says to him and through his work to each and every viewer.

JUST SHINO

I was searching for a photo yesterday in response to a conversation I was having with a distant collector and near the photos in question was this lone jpeg of a rich, red Shino covered jar. This covered jar was made by Bill Klock back in the 90s and was one of a group of pots I picked up while working with him at Plattsburgh State and his studio, several of which were given off to several very gracious patrons that I had back at that time. With some luck, this pot stayed with Mindy and I and made its way from Cleveland, through numerous moves and is still with us here in the Mohawk Valley. Bill loved Shino along with temmoku and ash in which a great number of his pots were glazed and this jar shows the influences of his stay in Korea with impressed and inlaid devices around the pot. It is a straight forward, almost simple pot that was made with function in mind without ever overlooking pleasing the eye as well. The Shino was used somewhat thin showing off the decoration and throwing marks which in turn makes for a rather fiery red surface. In truth despite all the years I spent around Bill, I have far fewer pots by him than one would expect and certainly far fewer than I would like and this may be just a simple Shino covered pot but to me it is equal parts of inspiration, standard and a perpetual reminder of a mentor and friend.

SEASON'S GREETINGS

CLASSIC CINEMA

I stumbled on a group of a dozen or so slideshow videos that I had made when I first started making slideshows, there is a nice group of pots from Kumano, Tsukigata, Yamato Yasuo and several Hori Ichiro among others. I decided to put up this early slideshow video of a very nice Shino chawan by one of my favorites, Hori Ichiro, a classic piece by him with just wonderful glaze quality. As you can see in the video, the bowl is broad and has a strong form with an excellent interplay between the white of the feldspar and the rust hue of the iron which has glimpses of iridescence. In truth, this is a very visually appealing bowl which is equally so in person, having just enough manipulation of the form to feel at home in the hands and resting in the palm, I am hoping this slideshow "classic" gives one the sense of what the bowl has to say.

SINGLED IN

Recently a fellow collector sent me a link to a Tsukigata Nahiko piece as he thought it may be of interest though he suggested I may already have too many pieces by this potter.  Of course I thanked him for the link but I also added, what is too many pieces? The truth is that we actually don't own many Tsukigata pots, most of the photos I have shared come from other people's collection or are photos I find in old book or on the internet here and there. However, I keep coming back to the question, what is too many pots by a single potter and my mind goes to collectors and collections built around a single individual from Picasso to Utagawa Kuniyoshi, from the sculpture of Gaston Lachaise to the pottery of Warren MacKenzie or the etchings of Albrecht Durer. It would seem that collecting an "individual" or more succinctly an individual's work is rather common and makes for an in-depth and the broadest understanding of the artist possible. I suspect the fellow collector may have in part been a bit sarcastic (in a good way) knowing a bit about my temperament but I have concluded when dealing with potters like Kumano, Furutani Michio, Tsukigata Nahiko and a few others, when can you have too many pieces, as long as each work is unique, doesn't duplicate a piece in the collection and makes its own bold and empowered statement than I am all for bringing another pot in the house.

Illustrated is a detail shot of a Tsukigata Nahiko mizusashi that I handled somewhat recently. Enclosed in its original box entitled; Oni-Shino Mizusashi with its fitted silk shifuku, this pot is as far afield from what one normally thinks of as Oni-Shino with areas of thick ash, deep, rich iron and thick feldspar plains. This particular rmizusashi is enclosed in a coat of thick Shino with ash covering the surface creating areas of translucent green over the white base adding tones of blue-grey and ash crystals across the entire piece. Interspersed about the pot are fissures created by the tension and weight of the glaze which allows the rich accumulated ash to paint these crevices to maximum affect and further activating the pot for the fullest dramatic presentation that a thick, viscous white glaze can muster. Given the serene and austere nature of this surface who would pass up such a pot simply because they already have a mizusashi or even ten.

JUTLAND

I mentioned these teapots a while back when I wrote about a sloop influenced t-pot. In this case here is a pair of Jutland influenced teapots that are loosely based on the battleships of WW 1 with the spout as naval gun and each decorated in camouflage of the period. Each of these fully functional piece, made a number of years back started life as simple thrown stoneware cylinders without bottoms and then they were compressed oval, cut, darted and assembled into these forms with handles and spouts added and flowing stoppers completing the package. Back when I was making these pieces there was also a set of four, two pairs of teapots, one representing the Royal Navy under Admiral Sir John Jellicoe and the other the Imperial German Navy under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, each set distinctly decorated to create opposing forces of one of the greatest sea battles in history. Being a huge history buff, my primary major in college, it was fun creating these sets based on a historical sea battle though I doubt without some narrative or explanation the inspiration would necessary spring to mind and that is just fine as well but a little back story doesn't hurt either.

"What is history but a fable agreed upon?" Napoleon Bonaparte