KUSHIME SHINO

Wonderful combed Shino henko, bottle form with thick glaze over a rich, deep red iron yohen surface with hints of pale green covering the pure white areas. The henko has intentionally carved facets or channels that help animate the form though the thick, finger swiped Shino brings movement and animation to the form. Matsuzaki Ken including this in an exhibition in Heisei 14 where it is prominently illustrated.  You can see more of this Matsuzaki ken henko over on my Trocadero marketplace; 

https://www.trocadero.com/stores/albedo3studio/items/1507539/ILLUSTRATED-COMBED-SHINO-HENKO-BY-MATSUZAKI-KEN

THIS IS WHERE IT BEGINS

Illustrated is a simple porcelain cup with impressed decoration, this is one of many thrown cups used for testing as I upscale from test rings or pods, in essence, this is where it begins. This particular test is quite rudimentary; I am using cobalt and manganese in conjunction with the soda blue glaze to see what effects I end up with and how best to use these oxides as decoration. As with most testing, I am really just trying to establish a baseline for color, saturation and style, I’ll get back to you when or if I figure it out.

KAKI-TEMMOKU

On some level it is easy to see the influence, style and surfaces of Shimizu Uichi in this small chawan style guinomi. As you focus in closer on the form, it becomes clearer that it is in fact by Shimizu Yasutaka, son of Uichi and the perfect student to carry on his father’s legacy and profound knowledge and use of iron glazes. Thrown out of a well textured, buff style stoneware, the exposed clay has a crinkled, chirimen-hada style texture that is then covered over in a deep rich, dark iron glaze that has had areas of a drifty, iron red kaki like glaze applied over which has been stretch and drawn thin exposing cells of dark black piercing the secondary veil. Though well known for his use of turtles as a motif in two and three dimensions, I believe Shimizu Yasutaka is at his very best when he makes use of layered iron glazes like this kaki-temmoku (persimmon temmoku); they are simple, direct and to the point and always beckon to be used.

ALL-NATURAL

Illustrated is an old (?) mentori-kakeire by Kohyama Yasuhisa likely dating from the 1970s or 80s. Though early work, to some degree it doesn’t look all that different from some of his later work from form, technique and surface. Like some older pieces that have been around the block a time or two, this vase has a few tiny flea-bites around the extreme of the mouth which have been repaired with a pewter finish lacquer that clean up the edge but doesn’t quite distract as much from the continuity of the surface. I really love the incised channel that separates the body from the mouth/ neck area and perhaps one of my favorite features is the bright, all-natural fired clay color that seems to glow or just beam. It is always the simplest things or details that get to me and the rich color just beckons to me, “forget the exterior, come explore the riches hidden within”.

POTTER AND FLAME

Illustrated is a rather traditional Echizen hanaire by Nishiura Takeshi, far more conservative than his hekisha-yu blue sand pieces and showing a far more feudal appearance and austere presence. The form of this vase seems like it could be from Shigaraki, Iga or Bizen but I think it is the surface that really gives it that Echizen flavor where the rich iron clay has flashed over to a deep, almost crimson hue that has melted a bit and has become quite wet in appearance. The firing has deposited a nice layer of ash to the upper portion of the vase which during the firing has turned to liquid and run down the pot aiding in creating the distinct illusion of verticality. All of the surface effects add to the rugged, sturdy form bult for use while being finessed by potter and flame to create a classic Echizen vessel that shows Nishiura’s ability to move back and forth between the traditional and the modern voice he has given to his pottery. Though this would appear to be quite a distance from his later, unique pottery, the strength and vitality of his work is written across the form and surface on this hanaire acting as its own signature of the work of Nishiura Takeshi and no other.

TIMES TWO

Some while back I was asked to make a couple of whisky bottles and after some thought, design and back and forth, I arrived at this simple shape. The bodies were slab built and the neck and stoppers were both thrown and added to the mix. The surface was first covered in black slip and then the white slip was applied, impasto style before being bisque and then glaze fired with my Oribe and some Kuro-Oribe accents in the center of each side. The original two were done in temmoku and ash and honestly have a much different, darker appearance than these two which were made a week or so later. This is certainly no complex form, simple lines, straight forward texture and glazing but without a doubt, they certainly don’t look like your average whisky bottle and that was the idea all along.

MATSUKAZE

This rare and double illustrated Matsukaze Oni-Shino mizusashi is by Tsukigata Nahiko, the father and creator of all things Oni-Shino. This very sturdy, weighty hyotan inspired mizusashi is a perfect centerpiece for chajin and collectors alike where the wonderful crackled feldspar Shino glaze has cascading rivulets, small streams of ash running down the surface making for a rather evocative and seldom seen effect among Tsukigata’s works. The form and surface are excellent examples of Tsukigata’s surfaces and forms though the Matsukaze (Pine Wind) style surface is rarely seen and is well represented in the book on the potter, ONI-SHINO where this mizusashi is illustrated. Beyond the illustration in the ONI-SHINO volume, this mizusashi is also illustrated in an exhibition catalogue contemporaneously to the book.   

 

BODE, VAUGHN BODE

 

Way back in the day, I was the go-to kid in the neighborhood for getting stuff done; lawn work, shoveling snow, house painting, general errands and I even dug out an entire foundation by hand one summer after a severe rain storm filled it in with mud. The point here is I always had money for the monster/ horror/ sci-fi matinees, 45rpm records and comic books. Like most kids my comic interests was the early superheroes that then moved on to things like THE WIZARD OF ID, B.C. and ultimately anything and everything by Vaughn Bode. Bode’s work is a mix of the irreverent and not politically correct storytelling and illustration, his Bode Broads set a standard of female iconography and their graffiti versions can be seen on buses, trains and building now literally around the world with a little bit (!) of help from his son, Mark Bode.

What inspired me to wax nostalgic is that my COMPLETE COLLECTION OF DEADBONE EROTICA by Vaughn Bode arrived yesterday. It is a perfect anthology of Bode’s collected comic book works and it a class act from cover to cover, the illustrations and coloring is excellent and vivid and did I mention all of the Bode Broads together with a few references to Cheech Wizard thrown in for good measure? Truthfully this brings back all kinds of memories from my misspent youth but there are certainly worse things to be interested in and this book is highly recommended whether you are a interested in graphic arts, comic books, illustrators or a long-time fan or new to the genre, it is easy to be offended but very hard to be disappointed.

NEVER ENOUGH TIME

Today was one of those busy days, I have several pots to tool and slip decorate, had several pots to throw, slip to make up and four pots to pack to go out tomorrow. I am not complaining, time just flew by today where there is never enough time.  

Just this quick post of a rather unusual, not rare Ki-Seto chawan by Hayashi Shotaro with accents of tanpan to break up the rather uniform surface. Beyond the glaze choice and accents of copper and iron oxides, the faceting and spatula work breathe life into this form making for a rather pleasant chawan that feels quite at home in one’s hands or just hanging out on a shelf or near your computer on a desk. In reflection, though not a massive chawan, it is still likely just a bit too big for bourbon, I’ll have to look elsewhere today.

ANTICIPATION

Almost two decades ago I saw my first Sue-Bizen pot buy Yoshimoto Shuho only to find out it was already taken but at some level, collecting is about patience and “strategery” as Will Farrell (imitating George Bush) would say. The biggest problem was that my first encounter was with a dramatic and feudal piece that was a rather high bar to exceed. Then after quite some time, flash forward, having seen quite a number of Yoshimoto’s pots, I finally found a piece that had the same degree of surface, Sue-Bizen atmosphere and feudal inspiration and by sheer happenstance it had a lid, a perfect mizusashi.      

Illustrated is the Sueki inspired Bizen mizusashi by Yoshimoto Shuho, squared in form, each plane of the body is a series of deep, rustic carved channels or furrows that surround and encase the piece while the top of the pot is recessed a bit and completed with a lid cut from the clay of the pot itself. The surface is a series of colors, all washed over in a thin coating of natural ash giving the impression that this is more an Iga pot than a Bizen one but rest assured it has all of the tell-tale characteristic of early, wet Sueki ware and Sue-Bizen in particular. The surface varies from blue-grey, to light tan and greens and where the ash has built up in the ridges of the pot, there is small pools of ash, all crazed and doing its best to imitate bidoro effects. It was a long time waiting on what I considered the perfect replacement for the Yoshimoto Shuho vase all those years ago but when you combine the anticipation, the potter, a firing and a covered pot, it was certainly worth the wait.