DAI-KANNYU HAGI

This piece is a rather unique and exotic dai-kannyu Hagi chawan made by Yamato Tsutomu, son of the Hagi legend, Yamato Yasuo. Made of classic Hagi clay with thick crackle slip put on the clay, an ash based glaze is then used to complete this rather modern Hagi chawan which follows admirably in the footsteps of his father and teacher. The use of this thick slip creates dramatic fissures and texture across the surface of the pot which has a high loss rate but when it works, this is the result, a primal, even elemental chawan. This chawan has a wonderful range of colors and feels great in the hand, truly a tactile experience while being visually engaging. This dai-kannyu style was pioneered by his father Yamato Yasuo and the potter, Yamato Tsutomu is an adept pupil and proponent mastering his ability to make this primal, elemental surface in to his own signature look.

Yamato Tsutomu is widely exhibited and published in Japan and even has several videos up on Youtube of him working. This particular chawan is also accompanied by an exhibition tag which I believe attests to what the potter thought of the pot. If you Google Yamato Tsutomu you can see his work in various international museums and some current prices including a rather pricy mizusashi at Gallery Japan. All in all this is a somewhat rare and classic example of the dai-kannyu Hagi style that both he and his father are so well known for.

You can see more of this chawan over at my Trocadero marketplace; https://www.trocadero.com/stores/albedo3studio/catalog/ 

 

YES, YOU KNOW ME

Simplicity, that is what strikes me most about this very utilitarian yunomi, perhaps one of a thousand or more. Thrown out of a coarse Shigaraki clay with all of the larger bits of debris removed prior to the throwing, the form is all about use and also easily identifiable as a yunomi by Furutani Michio. The clay, surface and textbook cut kodai all speak to a potters understanding of pottery and process that makes Furutani stand out as one of the legendary proponents of the Shigaraki and Iga traditions. There is rhythm, honesty, sincerity and strength in his work and I hope that this short video slideshow conveys that along with even more if you are in the right mood and frame of mind. Mencius said, "sincerity is the way to heaven" and perhaps that journey begins at the bottom of a teacup. Enjoy!

"Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony.In the middle of difficulty, find opportunity." Albert Einstein, I suspect he was talking directly to potters.

IGA-KARATSU

I just recently received a handful of catalogues from a friend who was recently in Japan. My friend is a book collector and in searching book stores occasionally stumbles on to pottery catalogues, the interesting ones he picks up and sends to me as long as they are 500yen or cheaper which is his decision, not mine. In this most recent group was a rather old Tsukigata Nahiko catalogue that is mostly in black and white with the usual cast of characters from 1972 with the anomaly here and there. In this catalogue was the illustrated chawan that is described as Iga-Karatsu and details are a bit sketchy at best with what looks like a thin ash glaze over the whole bowl and areas of natural ash built up where the bowl was facing the front of the kiln.

This chawan certainly has a rather unique, medieval appearance to it and after combing through multiple references, I did not come across anything described in this particular way though I suspect the term Iga-Karatsu likely predates this pot. I can't say I know exactly what the motivation was in the description of this teabowl but I am sure that Tsukigata had his own rationale though not having ever seen another pot quite like this, I wonder in the end if this was the ultimate goal or a random series of fortuitous events. I suspect we, well I may never know unless another chawan, mizusashi or vase shows up tomorrow with the distinct hakogaki; IGA-KARATSU CHAWAN, as one can guess, stranger things have happened.

P.S. Thanks for sending the catalogues!

NOW & AGAIN

I don't really dislike hand building, what I actually dislike is the need for patience that goes along with the process. In throwing, I have become quite accustomed to the need to wait for pots to firm up, usually overnight before they can be tooled and decorated. With hand building, I haven't built up the tolerance to waiting and as soon as I roll out a few slabs my mind wants to go ahead and build which as one can guess rarely works out that well. The slabs for this particular teapot were rolled out after I finished tooling thrown pots at the end of the day and then placed on fiber boards used for drop ceilings to start to dry overnight and in the morning, coffee cup in hand and 80s music on the stereo, I set to building a pair of these "facade" teapots which despite their appearance are fully functional. The generic name for this decoration is called "waiting" which as you may guess has multiple meanings; the obvious subject matter is about waiting, the process to build the pieces is about waiting and lastly it is all about waiting as to when to decorate the pot. The title of this particular t-pot is "Waiting in Istanbul, Not Constantinople" a play of the TMBG song from 1990. I enjoy decorating pots with these "Its still life" themes as it allows the viewer to create and narrate their own stories or bring up experience from their own lives so have at it.

CROSSROADS

In many respects if you are navigating New York we live almost in the exact middle, the crossroads of where ever you may be traveling in the State and on the odd occasion I have had people drop by for a little bit of show and tell knowing my approximate coordinates. In this particular instance, a collector/dealer emailed and we arranged for a quick fly-by to show me a couple of pots that he couldn't identify and wanted what input I could offer. The pots were two nice pieces, a Bizen chawan, no box and a large porcelain hakuji tsubo which had its original box. The chawan was easy to identify despite the lack of box as was the tsubo though as you can see from the photo Khan was very pleased that it had its original tomobako and immediately made himself home in it never missing an opportunity to inject himself in to the conversation. This is a rather common practice for Khan though few boxes end up large enough to swallow him whole though undaunted there are times when he is trying his best to settle down for a short nap in a chawan box. I am not sure if you can see from the photo but  one side of the box had become unglued so before he left I drilled the corner, reglued the edges and put in two new wood pins to stabilize the box. It was an unexpected pleasure to handle the pots, especially the tsubo (more photos at a later date) but I suspect the real pleasure was all Khan's.

"In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods, they have not forgotten this." Terry Pratchett

CHA-TSUBO

The maker of this diminutive little cha-tsubo is Kutani-yaki legend, Hasegawa Sojin of Kanazawa perhaps best known for his wispy aspara-like fairies and various naturalistic designs created in a painting technique that he calls Yosai. This particular piece is housed in a box that reads; KUTANI CHA-TSUBO and is more akin to a chaire than it is what one thinks of as a traditional cha-tsubo, tea-leaf container. Thrown out of porclain with a matching lid, the piece is first fired with a clear glaze and then it is painted with overglaze enamels in his particular style and in this case of the wispy, lively aspara style figures floating freely about the base of the piece. Considering the normal atmosphere and formality of enamel painting, there is a casual feel to this piece which makes it very inviting and thoroughly functional whether it is used for matcha or sea salt, it has a place in almost any household. I hope this short slideshow video conveys the sense of playfulness that I had while handling this pot and gives a glint into Hasegawa Sojin's unique Yosai style.

OLD FORMULAS

I was moving a bunch of magazines around, making space on some storage shelves when I came across a group of old Ceramic Monthly magazines from the late 1960s. Since I am easily distracted, the next thing I know I am thumbing through a few issues when I came across a single page of various crackle glaze formulas ranging from cone 06 all the way to cone10 and after looking at the actual formulas, a few looked promising. I threw a few small test pieces and made up two of the recipes, one of which is illustrated and as you can see, right out of the gate it works. Considering there were no photos I was not exactly sure what to expect but based on the description it sounded a bit like a Japanese style kannyu crackle of which I think it certainly shows promise. As you can see from the photo, the glaze displays a nice uniform crackle and where it is a bit thicker up around the mouth, the crackle is much more dynamic indicating a thicker application is called for next time around. I should also mention that I rubbed a good deal of the glaze off the lip in an effort to highlight the clay which worked out pretty well.

I am constantly amazed that when working with a number of older CM formulas, books from the 60s and 70s and formula handouts from potters like Warren MacKenzie, Val Cushing and David Shaner that the glazes almost always work, spot on without any fuss, muss or adjustments. I can't help but say how indebted all modern potters are to the generations that came before us in what must be considered a modern ceramics traditions of our own in the US.

SHIGARAKI BY WAY OF ECHIZEN

I have had this conversation a number of times over the years, does a potter's location dictate what his pottery is or is labeled? I think of two potters neither of whom works in Shigaraki though there pottery is clearly Shigaraki-yaki; Tsuji seimei and Kon Chiharu. As you can guess there are a number of potters who make distinctively identifiable work though it is made somewhere outside of where the pottery is normally associated. Such is half the case in regards to this sweet little tokkuri as the box is labelled; ECHIZEN SHIGARAKI TOKKURI and was made and fired in Echizen using not Echizen clay but what appears to be a blend of Iga and Shigaraki clays with just the right amount of feldspar inclusions to light up the pot like a star filled evening. The tokkuri is somewhat light weight with a wonderful surface painted in various hues of ash and effects that are as pleasant to feel as they are to just look at all clearly created in a fierce, even ferocious process of the firing.

Made by a Karatsu and Echizen specialist, Miyoshi Kentaro (1953-2018), he first studied and worked in Karatsu before falling under the primal and alluring spell of Echizen-yaki. Miyoshi moved and worked in Echizen creating pottery of both distinct and seemingly polar opposites in terms of pottery, but clay is clay as is firing and he navigated the two tradition for the rest of his life. I should also note that Miyoshi's works were included in the Birmingham Museum of Art's exhibition and catalogue entitled; ECHIZEN; EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS OF JAPANESE STONEWARE (1995). It is clear in this Echizen-Shigaraki tokkuri that Miyoshi Kentaro enjoyed combining styles and traditions in a cohesive and ineligible manner and as you look at this little pot you can see, like a fine blended whiskey, the various flavors that make up this memorable outcome of his efforts.

PARTIAL ECLIPSE

Coming out of the shadows or even a bit like a partial eclipse, this thick and crazed feldspar vase reluctantly appears before the viewer presenting form and surface that paints an evocative landscape. There is something so ethereal and contemplative about the works of Yasuda Zenko that is unlike few others; these pieces are like connective tissue from mind to pure emotion and even a sense of totality. Filled with elegance and raw energy here that despite the deceptively simplicity of works of this style and nature, time falls away like melting snow and the complexities of life are narrated in three dimensions if you allow it to happen. I find there is a tremendous sense of solitude and solemnity imbued within the simple elements of clay and fire on display where a pot lives within the view and grasp of the observer. I can't honestly say that I know the intent and reason behind these drifting cloud pots by Yasuda but I can relate how they communicate with me even though I suspect the dialogue is presumably  just at its beginning.

RASHOMON?

This particular teabowl is the result of two tests one of which was a trial by fire if you will. The bowl was faceted or more correctly put, shaved using a splintered piece of wood that I pulled off of a quarter of split firewood and then just gently sharpened. I used this piece of wood to create quick and uneven facets around the bowl and it seems to have made an interesting texture. Once bisque, I used the bowl to continue on my path for Oribe (Kuro-Oribe) tests using spayed on manganese and iron over the glazed surface. Since I don't have a compressor and spray gun, I used one of those old fashioned atomizer style sprayers fueled by nothing but lung power which gave me a certain degree of control I am not sure i would have had otherwise. I set up a box, lined with newspaper and then covered my banding wheel in a plastic bag and went about spraying two teabowls that were intended as a test of the new glazing idea as well as how the faceting looked after it was fired. Here is the result under normal light and in mostly direct sunlight, both give their rendition of the story reminding me at times of Akutagawa's RASHOMON and truthfully, I am rather pleased at the various interpretations that differing lighting has on the surface.