ROYAL FLUSH

At over 14" tall, this jar immediately capture our attention at a gallery that we frequented on our drive between Cleveland and upstate New York back in the early 1990s. Though we are usually on the look out for small, more intimate pots this was a "has it all" kind of pot by a potter who I had communicated with (and later met at NCECA and several workshops), talking me through a serious clay problem and later through a glaze shivering issue, in these phone calls, John Glick was patient and shared endlessly with his base of knowledge. As you can imagine, stumbling on to this large jar was made all the better for the somewhat personal connection, well that coupled with the fact that I love covered vessels and the surface was just perfect and a bit surreal. The pot has a wide array of decoration all atop a wonderful, lustrous Shino glaze showing off iron, cobalt, copper and a sprinkling of ash to create a classic Glick jar that is unmistakable and never successfully duplicated. Presumably everyone that owns a good John Glick pot thinks theirs is likely the best but for us, the personal connection, the memories of his kindness is  just like a royal flush.

ANOTHER DAY A DIFFERENT ACCOUNT

So in terms of dealing with Instagram it has been an interesting couple of days, in other words, another day a different account. I was able to access my account one minute and then locked out the next. Over a 48 hours I tried everything possible and followed all of the "help" tips and instructions to no avail so starting a new page seems to be the next best option. As blasé as it may sound, though I like the community and seeing what other potters, craftsmen and artist are up to, I am not that motivated by the likes or followers though they are most welcome. When I started my Instagram page it was a lot like my pottery blog, I, POTTER, more about crystalizing my thoughts on objects and sharing what little I may in the way of my personal work and the pots, mainly Japanese that I come in contact with.  All that being said, as I am often reminded, I will start at the beginning and see what happens and where this goes. Though I may put up a few previously posted pictures from my original page just for familiarity sake, my intention is to just continue to move forward and post on a more or less daily basis. Any thoughts, remedies or criticism are welcome and received as they are intended.      

In an effort to bring this post back to the actual subject of pottery, here is a nice sunlit photo of the top half of a Shigaraki henko by Furutani Michio. Enhanced by the sun and perhaps a bit mysterious coming from out of the shadows what makes this slab henko just a bit different is that it is small, low and a bit long compared to the bulk of his pieces employing this building technique and formula. This piece has a low profile, sleek frame and just the right amount of ash and hiiro to animate the form and draw in one's attention. I should lastly point out the neck and mouth, made by the coil and throw method that is starkly different than those on the larger slab henko and this gives the piece a very distinct look among the other pieces of this style. In the end I find it so odd that changing just one detail can create such a disparate appearance from the pack.

Old locked account;  https://www.instagram.com/albedo3studio/

New account;             https://www.instagram.com/albedo3studio2/

PROTOTYPE

I was recently asked if I could turn one idea into another and make a tallish triangular katakuchi style pouring vessel and this is the initial prototype that I came up with to make in three dimensions. Obviously thrown and altered, rasped for both definition and texture and with a cut style spout applied, this pot is currently loaded in a bisque that I hope to get fired tomorrow.  Once bisque, the intension is to glaze this katakuchi in Kuro-Oribe style and hope the end product meets with the approval of the customer. This was not the only idea, which was drawn out as a lower, wider katakuchi but the taller version won out and here we are. 

The timing is good as a group of these are needed for New Years which gives me plenty of time to get eight made. Apparently these is no need for guinomi to go with these as he already has a good group to choose from but since I am always prone to making an extra or two I am likely to go ahead and make a few small cups to go along with the pouring vessels. That being said since I don't necessarily think small triangular pieces are perfect for drinking I wonder what I can come up with. Thank goodness for pencil, paper and eraser, saves on the clay cost and doodling/designing can happen anywhere and anytime.

PRETTY CLOSE

Illustrated is what can only be described as a classic, quintessential  Shigaraki Oni-oke mizusashi  by long time veteran potter, Okuda Eizan. Thrown out of a fairly processed Shigaraki clay, meaning less stones and inclusions in the clay, this pot is the perfect shape and size for use with just a few banded potter's marks running horizontally around the piece which terminates in a big, fat rolled lip which immediately captures one's attention. Okuda who is know for his firing style, katami-gawari where front and back have two distinct appearance though in this case it is not quite as night and day as I have seen on some of his anagama wood fired pots. The face of this mizusashi is covered in a sheet of glass which appears to be in perpetual motion away from the point of maximum inpact. fading away as running tendrils of ash embracing the piece before ending up spent of energy leaving an area of hi-iro abstractly decorated by running ash and large bidoro drips here and there. I don't think I can go so far as to say perfect surface and perfect form but it certainly does get pretty close.         

As for Okuda Eizan (B.1944), though perhaps not as well know or popular in the West, he springs from a family tradition working in Shigaraki Valley where he has shown his work over the decades as well as around all of Japan. Though best known for his wood fired Shigaraki pottery, Okuda has branched out and works in a wide variety of glazed ware adhering to the Urasenke tea school sense of teaware which at first glance would hardly be recognizable as work from his hand so diverse is his output. Added to a lifetime of discipline and exhibitions, Okuda received the patronage and guidance of the somewhat eccentric priest, Shimizu Kosho, head of the Todai-ji temple. Though this is an abbreviated biography, I think it is safe to conclude that Okuda Eizan is one of those individuals who likely personify the concept of adding as much to one's repertoire and plate to best understand all aspects of craft and art that much better, from pottery making to tea ceremony and their unending and unyielding symbiotic relationship.      

IRON ON IRON

From the moment I first saw a photo of this chawan, I was just drawn to the direct and playful nature of the bowl. The form is simple, honest and appealing but the addition of the tessha like iron glaze, almost calligraphic in nature is just fun, playful, exuberant that fits in the hand and blends function and poetry as effortlessly as a bird takes flight. Neither large nor small, this bowl has a strong form with just the slightest amount of unevenness around the lip while terminating in a kodai that is practical and sturdy showing off the softly textured clay that the pot was thrown from.     

From my perspective, this iron glazed chawan is a classic extension of the Kyoto aesthetic blended with an inexhaustible sense of exploration and experimentation regarding the use and potential for iron in glazes. The creativity of Shimizu is not only easy to witness in this chawan but in the majority of his work over five decades of working in clay. Though this is an older work, this chawan, expressed with the use of iron on iron, demonstrates an insight and understanding into iron as paint together with the skillful choice of clay and form as canvas to bring life out of a handful of natural materials now manifest as an object that stands the test of time and appears to have had a good time while doing so.

WARP SPEED

I showed this bowl to a friend a while back and his first comment was, "warp speed ahead" as it reminded him of any number of sci-fi movies where the spaceship is moving quickly through space and passing by countless stars. After he made the comment I could clearly see how he interpreted the surface interior also simulating just a hint of the expanding universe. As for the bowl itself, this is a bowl I have made quite a few of over the years, sometimes sake cups, condiment bowls, teabowls, what have you thrown out of various clays though this one is stoneware with indented lobes. The pot is base glazed in temmoku and then dipped in a wood ash glaze and as it runs it leaves this rather defining golden brown lip which I think adds quite a nice effect to the piece. I think at the end of the day, I really don't care what you see but that in looking it brings up some memory, experience or your own allusion and that being the case, I have done the best that I could.

KONDO KOHIKI

Old, antique and honest spring to mind as I look at this kohiki chawan. I see the origins of Korean pottery rooted in the very soil and surface of this chawan and in fact the work of much of the pottery made by Kondo Saeki. The bowl form is unpretentious, practical and eminently functional for tea ceremony or an evening meal yet there is a hint of subtle and sequestered nobility that is like an aroma surrounding the bowl. The surface is old, desiccated even but full of movement and life down to the fractured and crackled slip covering the iron rich clay to the alkaline appearance of the glaze that pools and runs to create a rich blue green tint that is pleasant to the eye and adds to the overall aesthetic of simplicity balanced with complexity.    

Kondo Saeki has dedicated his creation to explore slipware and has mastered this style of kohiki ware as passed along to him by his master, potter and scholar, Koyama Fujio. Kondo opened his own studio and kiln in the mid-70s, Haruzawa-gama in Mizunami, Gifu Prefecture where he has challenged himself to create fine works inspired by and dedicated to his master (Koyama) that show the classicism of modern Japanese wood fired kohiki ware. This particular chawan has a richness and complexity of surface that has sprung from the simplest of techniques; throw a bowl, dip it in slip and then glaze and fire it, which kind of reminds me at its core of Sen (no) Rikyu's explanation of the tea ceremony, "first you boil water and then you make tea and drink it".

GBNF II

Though now and again I write or post up pots that I have not handled, when all things being equal I would prefer to have handled the piece so that I have a better sense of how the piece presents itself in hand. This illustrated Oni-Shino chawan by Tsukigata Nahiko is a piece that spanned both scenarios, for quite some time I was only able to see the bowl by various photos sent to me by the owner but over time the owner decided to sell the pot and I was able to study the piece in hand.   

The picture I am using was taken by the original owner and the following is how I described the chawan several years back;  "Large, Momoyama inspired, Shino chawan by the master potter and legendary personality; Tsukigata Nahiko (1923-2006). Though it is easy to spot some influences of his master, Arakawa Toyozo, this chawan is all Tsukigata Nahiko. The vivid iron slip shows, like a shadow, under the feldspar Shino glaze with rich areas of natural green glassy ash coating the surface and iron accents about the lip and showing through the surface. There are also frosty white areas on the face of the bowl where Tsukigata resisted the iron slip to create an evocative spring like pattern of flowers. The classic bowl form is completed with the potter's signature kodai and bold, impressionistic signature."  

As you can see this is a pretty good description of this Oni-Shino bowl though in retrospect I think I would have called attention to the semi-lustrous nature of some of the iron that has perculated out through the feldspatic glaze as well as the perpetually wet appearance that gives the chawan a rather appealing overall appearance. Part of the wetness of the surface comes from a coating of natural ash that built up and melted across some of the piece including around the lip which helps high light that area. All in all a rather enjoyable chawan to have around if only for a brief while and though it is a cliche I use all too often, thanks to all the pictures I was provided and that I took in situ, "gone but not forgotten".

SQUARED OCTAGON

I would like to say I could take full credit for the idea behind this form but admittedly I did not invent the square nor the square pot and the faceting, mentori concept owes just a bit to my time working with Kohyama Yasuhisa. I have posted pictures of this bowl as greenware and as green ware, the fired kind so that the idea is easier to see as the glaze is both highly reflective and hides some of the details that I would like to be a bit more obvious. The first step was to throw and square up the bowl, the ink was used to divide the bowl into quarters though not of any geometric perfection. I then "bellied" out the center of each plane just a bit and then faceted each of planes into two sections creating something akin to a squared octagon. Instead of just pulling the wire, I used a slight sawing motion to create a bit of texture which is a trick learned from my time in Japan. Once the faceting was complete, I set about cutting the foot into a square with a deep spiral in the center after which the bowl was bisque and glazed in a Kuro-Oribe surface which was a bit difficult to photograph. I made a similar piece in my sandy porcelain that though bisque has not been glazed and fired yet, I am hoping that the details show up just a bit better due to the whiteness of the clay and we will see with a Friday firing planned.

TYPICAL

With each unique encounter with a chawan by Kakurezaki Ryuichi in person or in photo, I seem to end up with a thought; is this typical, atypical or in fact is there any such thing as typical for this potter?  While I realize this particular chawan has a formula as to how it is made, cut and manipulated, each one does have certain unique qualities in its appearance and impact on the viewer. Proportions, posture and cut planes outline the form establishing its volume and presence where the various other details add to the narrative contained in what the potter has left of the clay. I guess the question can and should be posed in a different manner; what is typical and does it apply to someone like Kakurezaki Ryuichi? Know for all the conventions and constraints that he has broken, Kakurezaki has added more than a single page in the history book of what is the Bizen tradition. Typical or not, this potter's voice resonates through his engagement in process along with the discovery of where series plus formula leads and that perhaps is enough of an answer for me.    

"Have no fear of perfection, you will never reach it."  Salvador Dali