CHAWAN OR GUINOMI

I am particularly fond of forms that in a photo present a mystery, could it be a guinomi or a chawan. Such pieces maintain proportions that blow-up or shrink down well, as to fool the eye (and brain) into questioning their scale. This elegant bowl form, thrown perfectly out of a low fire clay with intermittent incised decoration is glazed in an alkaline clear and then had washes of iron and copper pigment skillfully placed about the pot. Because of the potter's use of classical proportions, this piece really could be a chawan or guinomi, though it is the later. This sancai influenced guinomi was made by Kato Kobei VII and has a light and airy, even refreshing quality even without any intended beverage within.

"No object is mysterious. The mystery is in your eye."  Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973)

NO ALBANY, ALBANY

In a previous post about blended glazes I mentioned my original attempts to blend existing glazes while trying to come up with a substitute for an Albany slip glaze. Illustrated is a small bottle with the results, called NAA (No Albany Albany). The bottle was white slipped and had black slip decoration under the replacement glaze. Though this looks a bit washed out from the direct light, in person it is a rather rich and deep amber with a nice, oily appearing surface. The glaze came about by combining two glazes that I had been working with at a 60/40 blend and in all honesty, the blend was nicer than either of the two glazes on their own.

KIN NOT GIN

A friend and fellow collector sent me a picture of one of his recent acquisitions the other day. This beautiful little tsubo is by Shimizu Uichi and was likely made in the late 1980s. This style of yohen iron glaze is a remarkable characteristic of Shimizu and what sets this particular pot apart from the majority of this style is that instead of taking on a silver sheen in the wood firing, this pot has a distinct and bold golden surface. The addition of the finger raked design and thick feldspar accents only accentuate the golden ground that blankets the piece. I am also rather fond of the way in which the foot was cut, leaving several distinctive, sharp lines that further enliven the pot and add to its sense of rhythm which seems very much at home next to the massive Uraguchi tsubo in the background.  Both pots born of iron in their glazes, both so distinctly different.

KINTSUGI

I have written about kintsugi, gold lacquer repairs before, but I am struck at the varying approach to repairs from East to West. In the West many broken pots are discarded and those that are saved, the repairs or restoration is done in such a way as to mask, hide or fool the eye into thinking there is no damage. This approach is diametrically opposed to the manner in which Japanese pottery repairs are made. The kintsugi technique, not only reassembles the pot, but it highlights, even celebrating the repair. The piece, now repaired, is in a way reborn into a new pot, having a new personality and certainly a new appearance. The technique not only reassembles the pieces, but at times, it is necessary to "fabricate" missing pieces to complete the puzzle.

Illustrated is a rather fine Oribe mizusashi that had a large portion of the lip damaged, completely pulverizing the pieces. The restorer was left with little but ceramic dust to work with, but a two inch long, jagged wound needed repair. Using some magic filler, the area of the damage was first sanded and cleaned and then the repair built to mimic the original area. Once completed and sanded, the surface was coated in lacquer and gold dust powder was applied. The end result is a new pot, born out of certain tragedy and saved for future generations. For future reference, it would seem next to impossible to over-pack any pottery you intend on shipping, just a thought for the day.

FUJI-SAN

Illustrated is a colorful oil painting by Oni-Shino pioneer, Tsukigata Nahiko. I thought it would make an excellent counterpoint to his ceramic works and show the diversity of an artist, many considered the "Picasso of Japan". The canvas is a particularly vibrant work with a festive array of color and broad strokes. This work is only a medium size oil for Tsukigata and though I am unsure of the exact date, I believe it was painted between 1985 and 1989 and one can certainly see the influences of Van Gogh and Umeharu Ryosaburo in his work.

OFF SCRIPT

I illustrated a previous post with a hand tooled/carved foot recently that is a personal evolution in dealing with feet on teabowls. At one time, a one size approach was how I dealt with feet by tooling them on the wheel, conventionally, but going off script has its perks. The off the wheel approach gives quite a bit more freedom to accentuate and compliment the form. The illustrated teabowl is from that group that I later hand tooled the feet. On the wheel, it was heavily paddled, creating its own unique personality and later, once bisque, I poured some gray and white bisque slips over the bowl. The whole then was glazed in the saffron iron yellow glaze. The contrast of varying shades of saffron and the paddled texture add movement to the teabowl and bring the eye round and round the pot. I am thinking after I make a thousand or more, I may get the hang of this style.

"Doctrine is all very well, I suppose, but it seems better to me to broaden your scope and be able to act with complete freedom. "  Kitaoji Rosanjin (1883-1959)

WHAT IS A MASTERPIECE?

I opened up a dictionary this morning to look up the definition of "masterpiece", there were no words, only this picture. What else could anyone possible say?

(Illustrated is a large Meihin Hagi Chawan by Miwa Jyusetsu)

HAPPY FORTH OF JULY

"Eternal vigilance is the price we pay for liberty."  Thomas Jefferson

"Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have." Harry Emerson Fosdick

BLENDED FOR SMOOTHNESS

I emailed a friend a while back asking if he may have a particular formula that I am looking for. He emailed back with a suggestion that I do a line blend with several materials, though I had already gone through that exercise, it got me to thinking about another type of line blend. Back at CSU, I had come up with a nice alternative to an Albany slip glaze by blending two existing glazes in a 60/40 ratio. The results were as good as it was going to get in a post-Albany environment. Using the same principle, I took 5 existing glazes that I am using and "blended" them together in 80/20, 50/50 and 20/80 percentage ratios. The results, though just a jumping off point, came out surprisingly well. In all, I came up with at least 3 new glazes worth further trials. I am sure to try different blends as part of my normal testing from now on and see what else shows up.

Illustrated is a  60/40 blend of the alkaline clear with my tetsu-yu glaze, which has become a super rich, iron yellow glaze. I am tentatively calling it Chinese mustard, after the glaze, not the condiment. The glaze needs some more work and is a bit prone to run, but it makes for a rather nice surface on the right pot. Where pooled inside the yunomi, the glaze breaks on the  ridges of the finger swirl, standing up in contrast to the smooth iron yellow.

ITS ALL IN THE PREPARATION

Illustrated is a previously fired mentori vessel by Kohyama Yasuhisa waiting for another cycle in the fire. For this kiln, way back in 1993, about 20% were pots to be refired, which is a common practice in Shigaraki and Iga and has been for centuries. The pots are ferried back and forth from studio and storage to staging tables, just outside of the enclosure housing his Iori-gama kiln, the precursor to loading. The tedious and exacting art of loading is carried out with skill and efficiency to maximize the finite space and to help insure a good firing. It's all in the preparation and the knowledge of the process, which determines the outcome, together with a pinch of luck. If you look past Kohyama's central pot, to the right, you can see a couple of my chawan getting ready to be loaded as well. Despite my current situation in regards to firing, there is little to compare to wood firing an anagama that I know of.