WOVEN

I first used this design for a set of commissioned dinnerware quite a few years back. This decoration is simple, elemental and as old as pottery itself and was intended to go with a large natural wood table with a rich defined wood grain and an almost primitive appeal. Somewhere among the myriad of photos and images I have a picture of the table and dinnerware all set out and admittedly the wood and clay work rather well together. This platter has inherited that decoration of quick sgraffito through a black slip to expose the rich terra cotta underneath and create a continuous woven patter that literally falls off the rim of the piece. As you can see in the picture, I have very casually and spontaneously carved the lines making up the pattern though in the past I have used a straight edge to make an exactingly precise design but I far prefer this as happened appearance. I have tried to remember where  I first saw this decoration, perhaps an old pot or piece of ikat dyed cloth but it is safe to say that this patterning was around long before I made use of it and will likely be around long, long after as well.

TANG STYLINGS

My interest in Tang pottery goes all the way back to my college days where I took an intro art class, Introduction to Chinese Pottery. Luckily I was within driving distance of the BMFA and the Met and was able to see lots of wonderful examples of Chinese pottery but early on the Tang pieces fascinated me most. Over the years I have been fortunate to see and even handle some Tang pieces including at the Cleveland Museum of Art and I am always profoundly impacted at the wonderful articulation of clay, form and surface that just gives off a rather otherworldly quality. 

Fast forward to my time studying modern Japanese ceramics and there are a number of potters working in this Tang idiom and sancai ware from the internationally known Kato Takuo and his son Kato Kobei VII to less known potters, at least in the West like the maker of this pot, Yoshida Shinsai. This covered mizusashi form was just hanging out on the shelf and taking in the sun so I took the opportunity to photograph the piece in situ in some of its reflective glory. Consisting of a rich, deep green, amber hues and a pale, almost clear yellow the coloration of this pot is quite well balanced and instead of distracting from the overall grace of the form it enhances it to what I consider to be its fullest potential. This utsushi-mono style mizusashi is a rather spot on copy of a tang covered form right down to the incised lines that ring the surface further adding to the movement and interest of the piece. Looking at this modern interpretation of a classic form I can't help but feel a small amount of the ancient presence that instill a sense of awe and reverence that Tang pots are so great at communicating.

NORTHERN KUMANO

I recently received this picture from a collector I know slightly to the north of me. This rugged chawan has a strong, powerful form, articulated by dramatic throwing marks and is covered in a glacial coating of luminescent glass around the pot. Obviously by Kumano Kuroemon this chawan is both typical and not by the potter, I say that because every time you think you have a handle on what he makes something else pops up and this pot is just that example. One feature that is not commonly seen is that there is a large area of very thick glass that has cascaded down the side (not seen in this photo) that runs all the way down to the kodai looking to be over a quarter of an inch thick and as we move on to the interior there is a thick, deep reservoir around the bowls interior of a crisper, green, emerald like glass where the ash has pooled at an angle showing the precise position of the bowl inside the kiln. Last but not least is the myriad of rivulets of brown, ashy iron that are making their way down the interior back wall of the chawan adding a vivid, almost tortoise shell style pattern over the Kuma-Shino glaze. Like many potters, most of Kumano's chawan are unique but there is always something new to see in his work, from pot to pot and firing to firing and if this doesn't keep you interested and wanting to see more, I am just not sure what would.

SCRAP PAPER

Back when I was working at Cleveland State (CSU) I used to carry a backpack with all of my essentials since I was gone from before 7am to after 6pm every day and in my pack I had this book pouch (six by eight inches) that I would stuff with scrap paper pieces I found along the way to sketch on while on the train to and from home or at the studio as ideas would come to mind. I recently found the pouch tucked away in a box in the studio and it still had hundreds of quickly rendered sketched ideas, some used and some long forgotten just like this one. 

This cup/ mug design idea is on the reverse of an advertising card for a restaurant in downtown Cleveland and shows a group of "landscapemen" decorated around the surface entitled, Sermon on the Mug. I vaguely remember using this idea on some mugs in both tebori style, carved through black slip as well as black and white slip trailed. Many of these designs worked in a variety of styles and some were just momentary or singular attempts and others I find myself using to this day but finding the sketches was an interesting reminder of where some ideas sprung from. I continue to use the "landscapeman" design on mostly terra cotta pots and credit all the time that needed passing as I was riding the rails, making my way to and from the CSU studio, I think it was time well spent.

YOH

 The first thing that I notice about this Iga mizusashi is the posture, if you look along the right side of the piece you can see that there is a graceful, playful curve that seduces the eye and brings the viewer on a vertical journey from foot to knob. Along this journey there is a narrative painted on the face of the pot, painted in fire and various woods used in the kiln and then the eye pauses for a moment of the ear like lugs with their exotic emerald bidoro earrings that are suspended in time, defying what we think we know about physics. I love such a ride, a journey that takes in form, surface and all the subtle and overt details that create a pot, there is conversation, even story telling suspended in the thrown and fired clay that just doesn't get old even as the pots do.

This Iga mizusashi was made by Tanimoto Yoh, son of Tanimoto Kosei who beginning in his very traditional roots has sprung into a potter who sees the past and wedges it into his modern clay pots and objects. Though I hold tradition and craft supreme, it is impossible to ignore the fact that both need to move forward in order to survive and this pot and those that followed nudge further along the timeline of an evolving convention with every firing.

HALF & HALF

I had this chawan come and go quite a number of years ago but recently stumbled on to a folder with pottery that belonged to a collector who was moving and selling off much of his stuff. This somewhat early Furutani Michio Shigaraki chawan was one of a number of pots that I photographed at the time and what was the most memorable about this piece was that along with the half and half appearance of ash and hiiro, it was one of the most purposeful and functional teabowls that I had handled. It is easy to say that a pot is all business but in this case I think it is not hyperbolic to label it as such. Perfect size, perfect utilitarian form, lip, foot and features that all add up to a chawan that is just perfect for the job. The simple, solitary mark incised around the waist  helps break up the form while the shell impressions and the movement from ash to fire color adds to not only the visual experience but the tactile one as well. I think at the end of the day that being all business is really not such a bad thing after all.

LEFT OVERS II

Illustrated is another pot that I fired a short while ago with the intention of getting a variety of left overs and odds and ends finished. This abstrakt resist trumpet vase is a rather interesting piece in that this pot is probably the longest anything has ever hung around without being fired or eventually broken up. I believe this pot is about 2 or 3 years old and was made as a group of very similar vases in a series thrown in two pieces and assembled, this was then put up on the top shelf and just never made it in to a bisque or beyond because of its height. At some point I put a small plastic bag over it and there it sat until December of 2020 where it was finished off with all the other pots that just accumulated from poor kiln space management. So the short version of this tale is that it is finished, fired without any problems and will likely now go back on a shelf until it is needed, I guess that means it has come full circle.

HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW

Illustrated is a two-vue collage or a rather nice Oni-Shino vase form by Tsukigata Nahiko. The photo was taken on a desktop in natural light which shows off the form and surface quite well but perhaps the really eye catching performing in this production is all of the all natural running ash on nearly the entire surface. With areas of crusty ash build up around the mouth, running iron peeking out from underneath the shimmering crystalline fractured Shino glaze which has become infused with the ash from the wood kiln to activate and animate the entire surface.

I was able to handle and study this sturdy pot for a short while, here today, gone tomorrow thanks to a fellow collector who has an rather nice collection of a number of potters that I am really enamored with. It was rather satisfying to have this very classic Oni-Shino pot around at the very same time that I had another Tsukigata vase out on display. The two pieces though linked by the commonality of the term Oni-Shino are very different in their appearance, there was this one based predominantly on the lighter Shino surface and the other that was painted with a lot more iron, a face covered in a nice coating of ash and a large area of thick green ash which in the end divided the pot into thirds in terms of its surface. Though they may have been quite different in their presentation, the posture, strength and vision of Oni-Shino is clearly painted across the surface of the easily identifiable forms of Tsukigata Nahiko.

SAME-HADA

I'll start by saying this photo was neither intentional or planned and was pure happenstance. This sharkskin glazed Shino chawan was sitting on the corner of my desk and when I walked back in I saw this area of the interior highlighted by the last remaining ray of the day's sun. This sharkskin, same-hada Shino chawan was made by Kato Yoshiaki and is a classic example of the texture over the entire bowl though the nodule sizes vary quite a bit as determined by the application. At first glance the texture really appears more like that of a large lizard but the use of same has a long history of use especially on the handles of Nihonto, Japanese swords so an affiliation with that material and origin makes quite a bit of sense. As one can imagine the texture of this work is rather a unique one and quite comfortable despite the appearance, each nodule of glaze is smooth and for the most part covered in a sheen of ash adding to the visual texture as well. Having handled a group of Kato Yoshiaki's works, including several chawan I can say that his work appears driven by function but in no way did he want to leave out the fundamental truth that appearances matter.

MOTTLED MARKS

In a recent discussion with a potter though quite some distance away but Earthly bound, the topic turned to making marks, marks and their meaning. Admittedly many marks that I make on my pottery may seem obtuse or abstract (or abstrakt) even though many times there is meaning, narration and symbolism in decoration that may appear otherwise and I am sure I am not alone in this. Some marks, design and decoration like with this carved teabowl showcases an incised narration, which is meaningful to me and meaningful enough to commit it to clay and fire it into permanence. As I make these marks I wonder if it is necessary to spell out the implicit meaning of the design, the decoration and in the end I leave it to the viewer to see and interpret as they see fit, according to their ideas and experiences besides who really wants to know what crazy ramblings are rolling around in other people's heads?

This teabowl with its mottled marks is a classic example of what I am talking about, these marks are more than decoration and have meaning  though not all marks do. I slipped this simple stoneware in a white slip and then once almost dry I incised, carved the marks around the bowl to create lines that are not crisp and show areas of chipping and roughness, once bisque I glazed this in an Oribe variant and added iron over areas of the bowl to create a rich texture that has a nice range of effects especially in the sunlight. 

"Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind." Sir Terence (Terry) John Pratchett OBE