WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MY ETCHINGS?

I first thought about etched porcelain after seeing the works of Arne Ase (Norway) and Astrid Gerhartz (Germany) back in the early 1990’s. I immediately became apparent that the use of this technique could be either literal or abstract and this appealed to me. The question back in the early 90’s was how to proceed. In my first attempts I used shellac as a resist and a highly deluted solution of muriatic acid and water as the etchant. This process had lots of drawbacks from a lengthy waiting time for the varnish to dry to the affects the solution was having on my hands and nostrils. Without any real guidance, I was on my own to solve these problems.
Over time, I settled on simple wax as the resist and a solution of the cheapest vinegar I could find mixed with water (4 parts water to 1 part vinegar). This combo has proven to be the best for my uses together with a stout sponge and the right touch not to break the greenware. Illustrated is a before and after picture of an etched porcelain teabowl. The etched design is of the kanji “JU” which represents long life or longevity. I refer to it as O-Ju, the Big Life, and it is bordered by a net design. The teabowl is glazed in my temmoku and haiyu glazes, which despite softening the visual of the design, the etched surface is very tactile and as a recent client commented, “it allows you to feel the JU”.

JUKO-SHINO

I am fascinated by the fact that an idea can spring up as far a field as ancient Egyptian and Mayan pyramids. Discounting alien engineers, the idependent invention of an idea is simple at its core; it simply seemed like a good idea at the time. Is the same principle possible for potters, born only a year apart and living within 100 or so square miles of each other? I honestly think so and in this case I am talking about Tsukigata Nahiko and another potter who was seemingly on the same pathway, Murata Juko (Tetsuo) (b. 1922).

Like Tsukigata, Murata’s pathway started early on in pottery. He sought out potters he could study with that would help him answer his questions about clay and the Mino tradition in particular. Early on he worked with Kato Kobei V whose heritage connected the old style Shino and Mino tradition with the burgeoning revival of the Momoyama aesthetic. From there he went on the study with 20th century legend, Kato Tokuro. From Tokuro, he would have learned the essentials of technology, firing and the many facets of Mino pottery; Shino, Oribe, Seto-Guro, Ki-Seto, to name a few. After leaving the workshop of Kato Tokuro, he finished his education with the tutelage of Kato Hajime. Whatever questions about aesthetics and technology that may have remained, he would have found answers with Kato Hajime. Hajime, designated Ningen Kokuho, was a master of form and surface. He mastered whatever he set after and was as adept in Persian blue with underglaze gold all the way to Bizen ware. I can not imagine three greater teachers to prepare one for the real world of making pottery for a living.

So, he left the realm of study and set up a pottery and built his kiln. His pathway, like Tsukigata, leads him to explore the nature of Shino and its relationship with iron, among other things. In time, using a liberal blend of iron and Shino glazes, coupled with the natural ash deposits of his wood firing, he arrived at his Juko-Shino. The Juko-Shino wares he made are classified as kiln change Shino (Gama-Yohen Shino) and in many cases; the surfaces are heavily coated with ash, in a tamadare style cascade.

Where Tsukigata and Murata differ is in the nature of their pieces and the depth of the surface. Murata’s works tend to be more on the conservative side and along the lines of proven archetypes. His surfaces also have a bit less depth than Tsukigata, partially, I believe, because Tsukigata took on glazing and firing with every ounce of his being. Murata’s glazing and subsequent firings fall on the more conservative side and possibly end up more intimate and less aggressively masculine in appearance. Throughout his career, Murata exhibited widely and was published in a wide variety of books on tea utensils and/or chawan specifically.

Illustrated is a large Juko-Shino (Gama-Yohen Shino) chawan by Murata Juko. This chawan is a wonderfully rounded piece with a thick, translucent feldspar Shino glaze coving the exterior with vivid areas of iron glaze accenting the surface. The exterior also has areas of a thin layer of natural ash glaze coating the Shino like a thin coat of glass. The interior has a thicker layer of iron with iridescence where the glaze has pooled at the bottom. All in all, it makes for a rich visual surface that coats the well conceived form and steps away from our usual concept of Shino. Potters like Murata Juko, Tsukigata Nahiko, Kumano Kuroemon and others, push our concept of Shino into a whole new realm, this chawan is no exception.

BOTA-MOCHI

As most of you know, wood firing doesn’t allow for many mistakes of line or form. The pot either is or isn’t a wood fired pot. I think back to my first wood firing, anything was fair game for going into the kiln. The results were the beginning of my education with many of the pots looking horrible and should have never been wood fired, rather fired with glaze. Over the years as potter and collector, I have studied what makes a good wood fired pot using the Western and Eastern potters as examples from Kirk Mangus and Jeff Shapiro all the way to Kakurezaki Ryuichi to Kaneshige Toyo, Ningen Kokuho.

Illustrated is a classic, sturdy and simple form that stands the test for wood firing. This simple cylindrical Bizen vase was made by Yoshimoto Tadashi (b. 1944) who studied with legendary potter, Kaneshige Toyo. This vase exhibits a variety of ash effects from goma and sangiri to the vivid bota-mochi areas of bright orange bare to the clay body. This vase has it all and reminds me of one of those computer generated visions of some galactic far away nebula “burned” on to the clay surface. From my perspective, this pot was made to be wood fired…..

I'VE SLIPPED

I really like making slipware pots. The process, though somewhat unforgiving of error, makes for a quick and sometimes spontaneous outcome. Some designs are well planned out; others just seem to happen as the slip trailer touches down. My approach is about fun and fantastical design, little of my work borrows from the slipware archetype, though I have been known to make “copies” of older slip trailed pots. I usually use a clear glaze over my slipware but on occasion, I have used amber, green, purple and Persian blue glazes as well. Each transparent glaze gives the slip ware a very different look. My favorite though, is the black and white.

Illustrated is a pair of 17” wall bowls. They are very shallow bowls with extensive patterning on them. The bowl on the left has been sectored off into areas then trailed with contrasting slip designs, the one on the right has been sectioned off into a grid pattern with various, mostly spontaneous designs. The real joy of slip trailing is that once you put that slip bottle down, the pot is done until it is time to glaze. I really respond to the immediacy of this process, not to mention, it ends up being fun along the way.

IPTV; THROWING A V-BOWL

This is the last of the videos shot a few weeks back while I was throwing stoneware off the hump for the last firing. This video is me throwing a Ming Dynasty influenced V-bowl off the hump. It is jokingly called a Ming-ding( by some former students) because of the shape and if you tap the very edge, there is a resounding “ding” sound. I am reasonably sure that I have thrown more of this shape than any other that I have ever made, in the thousands and ranging from 4” to 28” on the high end. The bowl in the video ends up measuring just over 14” across and weighs in at under 3lbs. Let me know what you think. The next video will be of a slightly better known potter. Stay tuned, same pot time, same pot channel.

SAN-TSUBO

“I want to go beyond virtuosity: I want to strip my work of ‘effects’ until it stand monolithic, based on reality and yet transcending it. It must flow naturally from my materials (from the chisel and the way of the block). This is very difficult but is the only right way. It is the ultimate ideal.”

The above quote is from famed Japanese print artist, Munakata Shiko (1903-1975) from the book; THE WOODBLOCK AND THE ARTIST. Munakata was part of the growth of the Mingei movement and friends with Bernard Leach, Yanagi Soetsu, Shoji Hamada and his very good friend Kawai Kanjiro. From my perspective, Munakata’s statement, though relating to print making, could relate to any artistic or craft endeavor and is very relevant to pottery. He understood what all many potters strive for, to “allow the clay to speak”. As most know this is certainly not easy and takes a lifetime to work towards.

Munakata had a unique relationship to pottery through his close friend, master potter, Kawai Kanjiro. Over the years, Munakata portrayed the pots of Kawai in his prints and paintings, in essence, paying homage to the achievement of his good friend. During his years as primarily a print artist, Munakata excelled at ink painting as well as calligraphy and the occasional decoration of pottery piece made by various potters. His works are always bold and graphic in nature. Whether print, painting, calligraphy or pot, Munakata remained true to his ideal, his works always go far beyond simple virtuosity.

Illustrated is a close-up of a san-tsubo (three jars) kakejiku, scroll painting done by Munakata Shiko. It portrays three pots, influenced by Kawai Kanjiro, the gosu blue , the shinsa (yuriko; underglaze red) and the mentori faceted tsubo balanced against his bold calligraphy (shoga).

DISAPPOINTMENT

As both potter and collector, there are a number of modern potters whose works I admire. There is a core group of potters that I follow and have watched their work, some over a 20 year period. Among my absolute favorites there has always been a constant, a master Japanese potter who works in a variety of styles, mostly glazed.

This past weekend I encounted a chawan by this potter. The form a bit off and the foot, way broad and unsightly, but what really bothered me was the large crack right through the bowl. From the inside (mikomi) there was a 1.5” crack that obviously had glaze packed into the crack while still bisque. When looking at the foot, there was a nearly 2” s-crack that had been decorated over to try to hide the crack, to no avail, it was glaring. In a way, this was a great disappointment for me. A potter, who I have regarded highly, in essence, just didn’t seem to care about the quality of the piece and how it fit into his body of work. I think if this was some anomaly, I could dismiss it, but over the past decade, I have seen a number of his pieces with a variety of cracks, odd repairs and other faults, all with the ever so important signed wood box. There can be no mistaking the fact that this potter made the calculated decision to sell these pieces.

Now, here is my question, though I am not in the position to buy $2500+ pieces, what are the expectations of the potter and of the collector for this market? As Dick Schneider* was always fond of saying, “a potter shouldn’t hurt the buyer”. It was intended as tongue in cheek, but what he really meant was there should be a certain level of workmanship that provided an object devoid of cracks, chips and sharp bits. From my perspective, I will not sell work that is cracked or chipped. I even agonize over selling a pot with a small blemish from where it may have stuck to a shelf, but how does a potter justify selling work with a crack through the pot.

I am really at a loss to understand this. I understand there is not such thing as perfection when dealing with hand made objects, but shouldn’t a base line of perfection be what is strived for? In viewing the irregularities and nuances of distorted Japanese tea utensils, perfection is an odd term, but at the very least, the tea should stay in the $2500 teabowl……………

“No good work whatever can be perfect, and the demand for perfection is always a sign of a misunderstanding of the ends of art.” John Ruskin

(*As previously mentioned, Dick Schneider teaches Ceramics at CSU in Cleveland, Ohio)

KINUTA

“The beauty of modern art and craft is based on simplicity, clarity and refinement. These are my guiding principles in my everyday creations. “ *

This quote is by Ando Moriyuki (b. 1944) a veteran of the Mino ceramic scene whose works tend to revolve around Oribe ash glazed kairagi (crawling) pottery. Though this is one of his specialties, he also is well versed in traditional Shino, Oribe, Ki-Seto and ash glazed wares. His forms are rather diverse, making everything from tea utensils to large bowl forms and is well know for his highest level faceted bowls and open tsubo which have been exhibited at several national craft exhibits.

Illustrated is a pot that adheres to Ando’s precepts in regards to making pottery. This vase is a simple and noble kinuta mallet form with Ando’s Oribe style haiyu-kairagi glaze which has been fired in a wood kiln. Despite the simplicity of form, the faceted planes together with the highly active surface make for a very complex vessel, one that gives the viewer a lot to take in and even more to think about. There certainly is a lot to be said for simplicity, clarity and refinement. (*Quoted from MINO; 30 Anniversary DMCAA)

THIS IS MY BUSY DAY

“Time cuts down all, both great and small.” (Anon.)

Today was one of those days, too many tasks and too little time. Making up several slips, trimming some teabowls, slipping those teabowls, throwing a group of Ming style bowls, a quick lunch with the wife, throwing several jars and lids, reading and sending emails, packing up two pots, taking pictures and the day is gone. For today, 36000 seconds ticked away as another work day comes to its end. There were things yet to do, two glazes to make up, several test glazes as well, they will just have to wait.

Today was my busy day. I have little doubt, tomorrow will be the same.

QUICK WATSON!

So every once and a while, the whole pottery thing just needs to throw out a curve ball, today was that day. Juggling chemistry, alchemy and the duties of Sherlock Holmes, coming up with glazes and even simple glazing has a way of going sideways. By looking at the illustration, you can see something is just not right and is certainly not going in the kiln.

So, here is what I know, the glaze in question is a test glaze, made up as a phase two test (1000 grams) about a month or so ago. I had already glazed 4 or 5 yunomi in this exact glaze and fired it in a low-fire, slip ware firing, again, about a month ago. Fast forward to this morning, I decided to glaze up the test yunomi I threw last week, using the same clay and slips I have been using for years. The test glaze in question, stored in an airtight container, is mixed up and I dip three yunomi in the glaze. Minutes later, the crackling appears on the glaze and some pieces of glaze even peel off. The last time I saw this happen was back at CSU when a student was mixing up small batches of test glazes and forgot the main ingredient.

As I mentioned, this glaze has already performed well in the last firing and there are absolutely no variables. So what gives? The formula is primarily three main ingredients; 3110 frit, kaolin and flint and I am somewhat stumped. I once had someone, I forget who, suggest this was a possible electrolytic reaction, but I dismissed this as my science background is somewhat murky and lacking. This formula is an original “book recipe” and now you can see why I tend to steer clear of those. It worked one minute and not one month later.

I would welcome any input or thoughts or similar situations and pending further “clues”, I am going to make up another 50 gram batch and test it in this firing and then will try to test it again in a month. Maybe it expired? I have seen recipes that say; “use as soon as you make it up”, but I have never had a glaze with an expiration date! In fact, I have reconstituted glazes that were dried out and rock hard for as long as 5 years and they worked perfectly fine.

All in all, just another typical pottery Monday.