VISUAL AIDS

Way back when, before the age of the internet I remember having a phone conversation with a fellow pottery collector trying to describe the works of Yasuda Zenko with only words, no visual aids what so ever, needless to say the conversation was a train wreck. As I look at this photo of a good size ryu-un henko by Yasuda Zenko, it is quite clear that words fail me as to trying to describe this piece, this work excepting that the landscapes of this surface are seemingly otherworldly. I put this henko up previously as it emerged into the sunlight and out of the shadows but thought a more formal portrait  would give a better idea of form and surface. Though mostly rhetorical in nature, the big question is exactly how do you describe this piece and get it right?

ONI-OKE

I can't honestly say I have an in-depth knowledge of where the oni-oke mizusashi, oni's bucket style mizusashi came from other than it was adopted from a utilitarian form made in Shigaraki prior to the popular advent of the tea ceremony. This form was conscripted for use by tea masters with the simple addition of a wood and/or lacquer lid and they were off and running. Over the subsequent centuries oni-oke remained somewhat popular and the local Shigaraki potters continued to make the form specifically for chanoyu with the addition of a ceramic lid on the odd occasion but mostly relying on a lacquer lid made by a specialist, a modern interpretation by Kishimoto Kennin. The more typical oni-oke is a bit lower and wider than is this pot which appears more like a hoso-mizusashi but the form is stylized and simple with just a touch of flair and a strong rolled lip and was intended as a devil's bucket. I think this conveys Kishimoto's classic use of clay, his rich hi-iro and firing and a finished pot that owes a touch of its presence to a time when pots had less to do with the tea ceremony and everything to do with purpose and daily humility.

MOONLIGHT

I took this photo a couple months ago using the moonlight to best show off the texture of this Hagi style teabowl that I had made. I have to admit that I really wish that the bowl looked this good in normal light but using the moon and shadows certainly have this bowl punching way above its weight. As for the bowl, this was thrown out of a sandy stoneware clay with inclusions (not grog) of various sizes, the black slip design was put on using paper resist and once bisque it was glazed in a thin coating of my Hagi style glaze and this is the result, more or less depending on how and where it is lit. I'll post up a picture of the bowl in the near future to show just how night and day these images really are.

HAGGLING IN NH

This is a pot that I bought a long while back at a flea market in NH, it isn't necessarily a great pot but there were and still are things about it that I liked so I have kept it all these years. The story behind it though is kind of fun and hard to forget which makes the pot just a bit more enjoyable. I saw this on a table of absolute chaotic clutter at a flea market in southern New Hampshire and asked the Charlie Daniel's stand-in what was the price and he quoted me $5 and I said I would take it. I got this disappointed look and he asked me if I was going to haggle on the price and I said that wasn't my intention and he said, go ahead so I offered him $4 which he accepted. Thinking that was out of the way he quoted one of those famous lines, "but wait there's more" and pulled out the signed wood box. I asked if that went with it and he said, "no way" and said he wanted $100 for it, so I offered him $1 which he accepted. Turned out all he wanted from the beginning was $5 for the vase and box but was apparently just looking to have a bit of fun while killing some time on a Sunday baking in the sun at the local flea market.       

 As for this Bizen vase it is a simple bud vase with a variety of colors and some goma here and there, some sparkly ash crystals on the neck and mouth and well made enso like marks combed on either side with two very delicate lugs to complete the form. This is an early piece by Masamune Satoru and is a pleasant enough piece that could have made out just a bit better somewhere else in the kiln than where it was placed though I suspect vases like this are studio staples as opposed to his more individualistic and creative endeavors and are relegated to the rear of the kiln but given the cost and memorable story behind it will have a home here for the foreseeable future.

CURDLED SHINO

I just love the appearance of the curdled glaze sandwiched between two fields of thick ash coated Shino on the upper wall and lip and the interior of this large chawan. This rich detail comes for the interior of a large chawan by Kumano Kuroemon if you hadn't already guessed the maker. This particular chawan is a balanced mixture of these and other effects and textures around the exterior of the piece making for a rather profound and captivating landscape that few other than Kumano can create by serendipity, firing after firing. Adding to the overall aesthetic experience is the fact that this is a fairly large chawan which gives the viewer even more to look at, study and enjoy from moments of simple, straight forward effects to those over the top, bold and complex combinations of feldspar, ash and fire. In the end I guess it all comes down to years of experience and a willingness to run head long into  pushing clay and glaze to the extreme brink of failure and when you are willing to take those risks with those risks can come great rewards, for both potter and collector alike.

SANS LEMONS

 

A short while ago I was asked to make a set of these closed form serving pieces and now that they have been fired, here is the only extra sans lemons. Being the eternal optimist that I am I went ahead and made a total of 10, eight for the order and two extras, one of which was the prototype. Things began to take an ominous turn as they emerged out of the bisque as one piece cracked half way around the footring and up the side but I forged ahead and glazed the remaining nine pieces in the Kuro-oribe style and this is how they turned out. This particular piece, looking a bit like some hovering space craft was the lone extra as they all emerged in top top form which is good as I was not relishing having to make one or two or even eight more to be honest. The top and texture benefitted most from the iron and despite this photo highlights all the paddled surface with some nice mottled glaze effect across the piece. With this set out of the way I am now wondering how this would work out on a much larger scale, perhaps time will tell.

EARLY DAYS

Staring into this maelstrom of an interior reminds me of what the early days of a nebula coalescing into form at some distant reach back in time. Obviously though, neither quite that old nor quite that significant what you are actually looking at is the interior of an Iga chawan made by Kishimoto Kennin. As the chawan collected up loose and depositing ash like the gravity of a forming celestial body the surface became covered and under its own weight and molten viscosity began to run and coalesce at the bottom of the interior. By using varying wood types as both fuel and ash source, various elements within the chemical make-up of each tree, each piece of wood beyond its preponderance of silica can separate and migrate making their way to the very top of the built up glass creating any number of effects of which this is but one. Perhaps the classic appearance of a Kishimoto chawan is the manipulation and serendipity of the surface which is a blend of ash, thick and thin together with vivid hi-iro and tsuchi-aji brushed with fire to complete the landscape and why would the interior be any less interesting than the exterior?

IRON PETALS

Illustrated is a rather simple and unpretentious chawan made out of a fine grained stoneware clay and having both nuka and tetsu-yu glazed to finish off the bowl. As you can see the bowl was thrown and ever so slightly moved out of round with a central ridged around the circumference of the chawan which in turn is glazed in a rich iron decoration of iron petals which is further highlighted by iron crystals that shimmer in the right light. 

Kimura Ichiro (1915-1978) studied first at the Kyoto ceramic Research Center and later with Hamada Shoji starting in 1935 until set up his own studio in 1947 where though the ongoing influence of his master can be seen, he developed a unique style for himself especially seen in the myriad of "quirky" and idiosyncratic molded henko that he produced, some simply decorated and other more so in a tour de force display of his excellent command of form and space.  

This particular chawan was made in a rather mature style showing restraint in the throwing, tooling, glazing and decoration and made presumably in the post-1965 period. I should note that though not exactly seen in this photo, the testure and coloration around the bottom of the bowl and kodai is rather pleasant looking like it has been banded specifically to call attention the the rustic appearance, vivid texture and feel of the foot. This Kimura Ichiro chawan is a classic piece to represent his body of work which clearly espouses the best elements of the Mingei movement with all of the functional necessity of tea ceremony or simply a bowl for udon or ramen.

ANOTHER VITAMIN JAR

Small Kuro-Oribe tea jar from a previous firing that was photographed in the sunlight to best show off the glaze surface. Thrown out of a rather sandy stoneware clay once dry enough the surface was lightly faceted to create subtle vertical planes around the piece as well as to open the clay texture and allow many of the inclusions to later affect the glaze surface. As you can see the shoulder and lid have both benefited from a build up of the iron glaze applied over my Oribe creating a fair amount of visual texture and serendipitously allowing the collar of the neck of the small jar to stand out as a rich green surface. Though starting out life as kiln filler, I thought these jars would be good for storing tea but honestly their purpose is out of my control and they can be used for holding  just about anything including holding canine vitamins as I have been informed. It may not be easy being green but apparently they are easy enough to use.

POSITIVELY MEDIEVAL

A while back I was looking at two pots that showed up here and have to admit I was struck by the incredible contrast between them. The first pot was a pale blue seihakuji mentori chawan by Ueda Tsuneji (sorry no pictures to share) and a positively medieval Shigaraki suribachi style katakuchi by Kon Chiharu which is illustrated. I really enjoyed my time with both pieces but for very different reasons and would be happy to have them here indefinitely but if I was pushed to choose between them, I think the Kon Chiharu would win out. Despite the cool and contemplative honesty of the seihakuji chawan, it is the elemental and primal nature of the Shigaraki everyday katakuchi that speaks to me at a different level and not the intellect but rather the intuitive.   

As you can see in the photo there is a casual and spontaneous nature to how this suribachi style katakuchi was thrown, altered and then decorated, simplicity of design and creation exactly the way early Shigaraki and other medieval potters would work. The potter then let the kiln do the rest of the work and placed this piece to maximum advantage in his anagama allowing more than its fair share of ash to build up and melt creating this wet, glassy surface that is both perfect for the function of the pot and quite appealing to the eye.