Now before anyone says anything, yes, I realize
I had posted this teabowl up on my blog before but today the sun was a most
cooperative part of an ongoing dialogue that I am having with this teabowl by
Jack Troy. Every turn of the bowl, changing light source and particular mood of
the sun affects the surface and allows nuances and subtleties to renew an
invigorated conversation to take place. With today's encounter, small crystals
of iron, fine and exotic micro-crazing and the depth and extent of the green
ash cloaking the surface and cradled in nocks and crannies of the bowl paint an
entirely new landscape narrative that adds even more contemplative depth to the
piece. As I look at the teabowl today and now the photo, I can't help but think
about the age old real estate adage; "location, location, location"
which I think at many levels applies to how and where we display our pots creating
an endlessly changing aesthetic before your very eyes.
Illustrated
is a wonderful chawan that is up on a Japanese website that specializes in Hagi
pottery and carries the work of the modern master; Yamato Yasuo, to be clear,
this is not my photo but I was compelled to share. Several weeks back I posted up a chawan by Yamato Yasuo's
son, Tsutomu using this particular technique so I decided to search around and
find an example of where this style originated and thought that this was just
an excellent example to showcase. There is a great deal of risk in working with
this technique, many chawan fail with areas of surface flaking off the surface
but when it works it is worth the risk and effort. I have concluded why I am drawn to these surfaces; there is a primal, elemental quality to them, they are unfettered by
pattern and given over to happenstance and a controlled chaos born out of a
potter's experience.
This chawan has a carefully crafted form that is
both pleasing to the eye and easy to use with a lip that is skillfully
manipulated to appear effortless and natural which is complimented by the
spread of the pedestal style kodai that gives off a reassuring atmosphere of
stability and artistry. The rich and peachy undertones are ever so slightly muted
by the milky white glaze that is interrupted by the bold and random fissures
that run from the surface all the way to the clay body of the chawan adding not
only a dynamic tension to the appearance but a distinct sense of mystery as
well. What is easy to conclude from this chawan is that it is a tour de force
of Yamato Yasuo's unique Dai-Kannyu Hagi style and that from posture to pose
this is as classic an example as it gets to show off this daring and
unpredictable endeavor.
This
teabowl came out of my last stoneware firing a while back and is just a slight
deviation from the other teabowls in that I created two tiers of faceting. The
two raised bands created by the intermittent faceting create a wobbly ridge
that feels good to the hand and brings the eye round and round the bowl like a
rollercoaster for the less adventurous. Perhaps the best feature of adding the
additional ridge is that it collects all the more glaze which also highlights
the cuts and brings a clear focus to the dark, pooled glaze which has a
slightly mysterious quality. I realize this is not terribly different than the other
teabowls of this style that I posted but I am not finished with this idea and it is always interesting to fool
around with the formula and see what comes about. Let's face it, practice is
supposed to make things perfect.
"Mystery creates wonder and
wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand." Neil Armstrong
I
first saw this rich black chawan on a website in Japan and really liked the
glaze quality and the wonky form and I suspect it is very enjoyable to hold.
This photo was taken on a rather sunny day in France and I thought this
informal portrait gave a different, less sterile appreciation of the form and
surface. Showing the balancing act between the shiny and the slightly coarse
qualities of the piece together with the casual throwing brings the chawan to
life, animated in the sunlight and just begging to be picked up and put to
whatever use you have in mind. At the end though I wonder just how much better
off this Tsujimura Kai chawan is bathed in sun than sitting high off on some
distant shelf just collecting dust.
"How clear, how lovely
bright,
This
is a clever and fun picture that I found on the internet at some point and I
thought this was just a great E-Garatsu guinomi with a tokkuri painted to
compliment the intended function of the piece. Seriously, how convenient and as
you look at it long enough it is like the tokkuri is just asking to be plucked
off the guinomi and used. Made by Karatsu veteran Murata Munehiko the animated
cup benefits by the casual brushwork which brings both the tokkuri and guinomi
to life. I can only imagine this would be a wonderful little pot to use infused
with a sense of playfulness and perhaps a degree of the potter's sly humor.
"Reality
continues to ruin my life." Bill Watterson
Back
while working in Cleveland there was a rather rich environment of people
actively working within the majolica idiom, at CSU Dick Schneider made quite a
few pots in that style as did Bill Brouillard at the CIA followed along by
their students. Having worked in proximity to both and then with Linda Arbuckle
it just became natural to add majolica to the styles that I worked in and it
worked well with my terra cotta clay body. Over the years though I have found
myself making less and less of tin glazed pottery with only the occasional use
of majolica as much to keep up with the technology and experience as anything
else.
The illustrated medium plate was part of a small group set aside and majolica
glazed and decorated; four plates, four bowls and several teabowls that I fired
at the bottom of a terra cotta firing. All in all the plates and bowls came out
okay but the designs that I used on most of the teabowls just didn't work out
all that well which explains why I used a rather tried and true grasses and
abstrakt background decoration on the other pieces. Decorating and firing these
pieces was a real clear reminder that I enjoy this process but in an effort to
keep up with what decoration works well with what forms I will need to practice
this more than once or twice a year moving forward.
"Everyone
should do at least two things each day that he hates to do, just for
practice." William James
"Shino
which was fired in the Mino kilns during the Momoyama period, stands at the top
of the history of Japanese ceramic art. It is said to be located at the highest
peak among ancient ceramics. It has a plump warm touch like cotton and a simple
yet noble fragrance (this) is the feature I want to express (in) Shino in the
modern age." Enomoto Kyousuke (This
is a rather imprecise translation of Enomoto's quote though the best I could
do.)
I posted a photo of a wari-kodai from a Shino chawan in a recent
post and decided that since I wasn't sure when I may get around to making a
slideshow video I would just post up an overall photo of the chawan. Made by Enomoto
Kyousuke this is a generous and lively bowl perched upon its split, pedestal
foot with a thin layer of milky, translucent Shino over a dark iron slip with
the addition of a thick, pure white band of glaze around the chawan. Though at
first glance I can see the influence of some modern masters, this teabowl has
its own distinct personality where thick Shino paints a wondrous snow covered
mountain range against the hazy red sunset of some far off place like a visual
road trip for the imagination. I really like the variety of dimension and
textures to this chawan which is enjoyable in the hand and ever so slightly
reminiscent of some poem extolling the joys of some exotic locale and just how
to get there.
I think that this chawan would be best served through a
slideshow and hopefully I will get to it in turn though there are several other
pieces already lined up in the queue.
I
mentioned this chawan a few posts back, made by Sakauchi Ensen
(b.1922) of Okayama Prefecture this unusual, perhaps even a bit unique among the rich diversity of all the Bizen-yaki styles. Sakauchi calls
this style Hishoku Nanban-yaki, secret color unglazed (Nanban) pottery which is
different than any other Bizen of its time or since which makes pieces such as
this stick out all the more from a sea of brown pottery, emblazoned with rich colors, a pronounced visual texture and lots of movement. This chawan was very finely potted and
fired upside down as evidenced by the rich, accumulated ash drips on the mouth
and is covered in a variety of thick, colorful textures on the exterior and
interior of the bowl. Though I have seen a number of Sakauchi's chawan,
guinomi, tokkuri and katakuchi, each one is a unique work because of the firing
process and each teabowl is a classic chawan with the ultimate goal of fulfilling
its basic function for the tea ceremony while presenting a unique and
unorthodox aesthetic which has broadened the Bizen tradition.
I
should mention that the current situation has a rather far reaching,
ripple effect indiscriminately across the board. Pots I started working on in the last month will likely not have
anywhere to go for the foreseeable future as galleries close in an abundance of
caution. I will finish off what I am working on and get the pieces processed
but will likely put on my experimentation hat to work on some tests and ideas
that have been percolating lately and maybe something positive will come out of
this down time.
Freshly tooled, slipped and carved, this medium size
XOXO covered jar was thrown out of my troublesome terra cotta and is now set to
dry slowly over the next week or so. The lid is finished with a rather
accentuated silhouette knob which I first starting using as far back as
Cleveland State while using thick slabs that were heavily stamped, paddled and
carved for a series of rather large covered pieces that I was making. The one
thing that is undeniable about these knobs is that no matter the scale of one's
hands/fingers, even in oven mitts, it is easy to get a good grip and depending
on the silhouette, it cast an a rather striking and unique shadow. I have made
about a half dozen of these covered pieces with a total of three different
knobs, each hopefully tying in with the form and decoration, I will try to
remember to post a picture of the finished piece once it is glazed and fired.
I
made a quick composite photo of the front and back of a very sturdy, somber
Echizen hanaire made by Kumano Kuroemon, the same one that I posted the detail
shot of about a week ago. The essence of the Echizen firing and classic Kumano
styling is seen in these photo with a with array of firing effects including a
rich, shiny dark hiiro on the rear which is punctuated by running drips of ash
and a large botamochi style shadow adding a hint of mystery and intrigue into
the aggressive, even ferocious nature of the firing process that Kumano is so
fond of and committed to. There is warmth, strength and honesty in Kumano's
clay, pottery that springs from the spirit and imagination yet rooted in
sincerity and function. I think it is more than abundantly clear as you look at
the works of Kumano Kuroemon, created by half-man, half-bear that if you aren't
going to push the throwing and firing to the very point of chaos and collapse
then why would you bother?
"Real gold does not fear the
fire." A Chinese Proverb
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