AN ALTERNATIVE VIEWPOINT

I took a few photos the other day of various pieces hanging around and came up with this alternative viewpoint of a rather nice Kakurezaki Ryuichi tokkuri. I realize that i posted this tokkuri up on my blog back in April but if you compare the two photos you can see how different the same piece can look with various variables affecting the image. In this photo there the surface texture running down the piece and the variety of natural ash effects tell a fuller story of the pot. I am a huge proponent of constantly re-photographing pottery in various lighting, different moods behind the lens and with additional cameras if possible. Over the years I have collected up quite a few digital images and love to revisit the folders for each pot to not only remind me of subtleties I may have forgotten but also to discover nuances that I may have missed previously. In this photo it is clear that the twilight illumination was just the right time and thing to bring out details that may have escaped this tokkuri's first encounter with my camera.

日

If I had only waited a day or two, I would have posted this photo of the Takahashi Wasaburo vase that recently made its way here. As you can see in this photo, the Sun decided to make an appearance and to my eye brought out the real character (and perhaps the best) of the pot and certainly the truer nature of the glaze combination. The sparkling kannyu surface shines through the iron variegated surface making for a rich and complex portrait that wraps around the entirety of the vase making for a rather exotic spectacle. When I first unboxed this pot I couldn't help but think of all of the wild and imaginative textures and colors of the creatures from the movie AVATAR and though I suspect the actual source for the film was the abundant diversity of nature of all types and form it would not surprise me if somewhere up on a shelf one of the pre-production designers had a handful of pots, among them perhaps one similar to this.

(I hope you don't mind all these detail pictures and sunlight photos but in many respects, capturing pots in varying circumstances and conditions can lead to a better understanding of what a piece actually looks like. How many people have received a pot that just doesn't look like its photo, jeez that sounds like what I keep hearing about internet dating!)

TWO-PARTER

Illustrated is a rather straight forward "falling leaves" vase that is a standard form that I make. This form is not really very complicated and it works well with various decoration on the surface and in this case the random use of the leaves includes inside the trumpet mouth and also on the foot. Perhaps the most complicated thing about this pot is that it is a two-parter, the base and neck are thrown separately in series, perhaps six bases and six necks and then they are matched up and looted together at which time the lugs are attached and each piece goes on for specific surface treatments from carved tebori, abstrakt resist, b&w slip or this treatment of random falling leaves. Perhaps the trickiest aspect of this design is that the slips are put on while the clay is wet and then the sgraffito is done once the clay is close to bone dry; using a large black foam sheet about 12" x 12" x 5" the vase is carefully carved to define the leaves. As I said this form and technique aren't really all that complicated, it just takes the right touch and timing to keep the piece from becoming more a two-parter again.

IT'S A SQUARE DEAL

I put together a rather short slideshow video to give a perspective of what this kaku-kinuta hanaire by Wakao Toshisada looks like in three dimensions. The thrown and squared up vase has a  surface of rather beaded pure white Shino with accents on the face and side of the form with rather vivid facets running from down the piece on the neck and the body. This vase is a rather distinctly simple piece without any extras depending rather on a solid and classic form, a certain blend of subtlety, austerity and strength and excellent proportions  which at the end of the day are all that is necessary to bring in and captivate an audience.

SURFACE TENSION

I have written about the maker of this interesting mallet style vase before, Takahashi Wasaburo who made the very first (real) chawan that my wife and I ever collected. Though in many respects this vase is rather different than our chawan, the depth and complexity of the surface is very similar with a base glaze of a kannyu style seiji that was dipped in a rich, deep, dark red iron glaze and then the potter let the firing and surface tension take over. The application of the two glazes and temperature have conspired to create a rather exotic and visually complex surface that conjures up some alien texture that has the viewer scanning the piece in an effort to make some distinct sense out of the pattern.

In some respects, this pot has an almost camouflaged appearance that takes a determined eye to read the fullness and motion of the form from the contrary tapers of body and neck to the soft, intentional depressed flutes around the piece. Depending on the light source the underlying seiji glaze sparkles creating a rich visual narrative of iron and feldspar presenting a unique and three dimensional landscape with the well thought out form as its canvas. Though this appears to be a rather unusual surface by the potter, I suspect that in order to get to this point in creating a surface, there has to be others, perhaps even a large number of these pots and with any luck, the next one that shows up (especially a chawan) will end up in a small town in central New York State.

IT'S THE TIME OF THE SEASON

As I have mentioned before, because I work in three distinct temperature ranges, I normally work in cycles specific to each though there are times I make stuff and slip it in a bisque and set it aside for another time. In this case, here is a group of "Falling Leaves" decorated pieces that are part of a group that will make their way to southern Connecticut in November along with a similar group of plum blossom pieces  as well. In each case I made a group of bowls and a square tray form that go together which lets me bring a cohesive group that works together and for the larger group it will include tebori, abstrakt resist, plum blossoms, falling leaves and winter berry designs. This illustrated group is freshly decorated and was loaded in to a bisque kiln which I will fire tomorrow. I am trying to keep on top of things to prevent the enviable backlog as long as possible and while firing the kiln tomorrow I will throw in the morning and decorate pots in the afternoon, it is time to plan out my time to its best measure, a skill I am still not all that fond of or good at.

SUNSHINE ON MY SHOULDER

Seemingly basking in the sunlight this vase is one that I had taken photos of some time back and only recently revisited them to build a slideshow video. While originally photographing the pot, I must have snapped a photo of the piece in sunlight and found it in the folder with the rest of the images. This photo gives a whole different  perspective of the interaction between clay, Shino, iron, ash with a cameo by the Sun making for a rather intense look in to the nature of not only the mallet vase but the qualities, varying effects and subtleties of the surface. What I really like about this pot is that at its core it mimics a functional object, the wood mallet and in doing so, blanketed in its own, unique wood grain of sorts, it has become a distinct functional object standing on its own. Through the process of using not only the original clay archetypes, it relies on the weathered and well used wooden origins of which it is quite easy to see in this form even through the earthy, honest surface.

Made by Mino potter, Nakajima Ichiyo (b.1949) of the Ikko-gama in Toki City, his pottery is a mixture of purely functional works, chadogu and pots that push the boundaries of his Momoyama influences. Much of Nakajima's work revolves around Oribe, Shino, Seto-Guro and Ki-Seto of which this Shino mallet vase is a good example in which the potter has skillfully navigated the use of a variety of materials to create a piece that goes well beyond the norm. With the sunshine on the shoulder of the pot a vivid picture is painted of what is possible with a handful of clay, materials, fire and perhaps just a bit of serendipity sprinkled in for good measure.

FLIPPING THE SWITCH

I went into our back bedroom that now doubles as a library, reading room and sometimes storage area and flipped the light switch which turns on a small, 60watt clip-on light and this was the first thing I saw. I had this rather simple and exceptionally useful Bizen sake set by Isezaki Mitsuru here for a short time and the way it is light in certain respects reminds me of a candlelight alcove in some Edo period inn or home. The sparse light is just adequate to highlight the forms of this intentionally mismatched set in forms and firing but as a unit, it works so well and looks very inviting on a shelf or while in use. Over the years i have seen several sets by the potter which included two guinomi and one tokkuri, but this is the first set with three of the former and two of the later which all fit nice and snug in the signed box for all five pieces. Perhaps it is over used but; kampai!

(And for contrast, a similar composition but under far different circumstances.)

GO TELL THE SPARTANS

Over the years, I have created quite a few trailed and carved slipware that represents various classical history and stories, maxims, quotations, etc. stemming from a misspent youth watching movies, reading sci-fi, fantasy and history. Relying on classic slipwares from all the way back to ancient Greece and somewhat more recent age of Thomas Toft, the decorations and design are only limited by one's imagination and enthusiasm. Illustrated is a small bowl part of a series of carved slipware that illustrates individuals or moments in history; this particular one of a noble Spartan warrior on his way to Thermopylae. Simply executed and surrounded in a key-fret border the use of black slip and a rich terra cotta harkens back to the red or black figure pottery of ancient Greek art. Among the other images that I completed are figures and characters like Zeus, a Conquistador, a Landsknecht and several others. These were quite fun to create and with just a few details, I think it brings the images from history to life.

"Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by That here, obedient to their laws, we lie."  Simonides of Ceoas (556BC - 469BC)

IS THE PAST PROLOGUE?

It is really quite a remarkable thing to have a ceramic tradition(s) that runs back thousands of years and it is easy to see why select periods over that course of history become the focal points for modern potters/ ceramic artists as the past is prologue in the shaping of a modern identity. Like several ceramic tradition(s), that of Japan stems from Neolithic times to the present with the Jomon/Yayoi cultures and the medieval and Momoyama eras being poured over and revisited to inexhaustible possibilities, revitalized and reinvented by modern potters, not only in Japan but around the world. All you need do is look back on the early 20th century to see the Bizen, Shigaraki, Shino and many other traditions brought back from the verge of near extinctions by the likes of Arakawa, Rakusai III, Nakazato Muan, Kaneshige Toyo and their contemporaries to see how crucial the earlier medieval and Momoyama eras were and continue to be to Japanese ceramics.

Echizen like many other traditions had their own resurgence starting back at the turn of the 20th century with the aid of the Yamauchi family who did what they could to ensure the "ceramic industry" of the region would survive but in many respects it is the efforts and stewardship of Fujita Juroemon VIII (1922 - 2008) and those that he has taught and trained that has secured the future of this local, long standing tradition. One such potter who has inherited the Echizen tradition and mantle is Nishiura Takeshi. As you can see from this classic Echizen tokkuri it is based on a medieval styled archetype using iron rich indigenous clay, fired in a kiln and manner that goes back centuries to produce this surface that is easily distinguished among the other wood fired traditions of Japan.

You can see more if this Echizen tokkuri on Trocadero by following this link: https://www.trocadero.com/stores/albedo3studio/items/1409227/CLASSIC-MODERN-ECHIZEN-TOKKURI-BY-NISHIURA-TAKASHI