AMALGAM

When I made this cap jar, I am not sure what I was after; I was playing a compilation cd of various Jarre & Vangelis tunes while throwing jars and this is what happened. Now finished, I can see an amalgam of various influences that I am sure I was not conscious of, or consciously pursuing at that time. All that I see, enters the mental blender and stuff just pours out in various combinations. Glazed in a rich temmoku, the impressed decoration has an ash glaze put over to accentuate the area and help define the pot. The lid has several steps, intentionally cut to create glaze breaks and the foot notched cut to break up the continuity of the lines. It is a simple jar that is a product of so many influences reassembled in a particular way that makes it my pot.

"Experience increases our wisdom but doesn't reduce our follies."  Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw 1818-1885) 

KON-JI

If you follow my blog or are just a casual reader, you may have noticed that I am also keenly interested in Japanese calligraphy. From scroll, shikishi, panels and what have you, all the way to the expressive calligraphy on pottery boxes, ink can provide insights into the artist or potters nature. There are a large number of potters who lend their artistic calligraphy to their hako-gaki but there are three who always spring to mind as being idiosyncratic and somewhat eccentric; Ishii Takahiro, Kumano Kuroemon and Shigaraki potter, Kon Chiharu. Over the years, the calligraphy of Kon Chiharu has become more personal and dynamic and the illustrated box lid is a good example of his ink from the mid-1990s. The playful nature of the ink is immediately recognizable as the hako-gaki of Kon and simply reads, from right to left; SHIGARAKI CHAIRE. The brushwork, both expressive and dynamic is economical in nature and in many respects relates to his pottery which is always presented without any superfluous addenda yet thoroughly energetic. Working out of Niigata, Kon Chiharu creates using ink and clay to reflect both his true nature and that of the tradition which he pursues.

(I apologize for the bad pun used in the title, it just seemed apropos.)

B&W

As much as I seem to complain working in terra cotta, there are few other clays that have the same feeling or sensibility in the wedging, throwing or trimming. It is a singularly unique clay and the range of firing allows wonderful opportunities in relation to brilliant color development and rich slip work. During my cycles dedicated to terra cotta, a large portion of the work ends up being black & white slipware. Though based on a historic tradition and even design devices, I am constantly trying to incorporate the "now" into the pots and hope that comes through in the finished pottery. Illustrated is a larger teapot and a larger platter decorated in black and white slips. The teapot is decorated in an all over slashes repeat pattern and the platter with repeated spiral designs. The spiral is one of my favorite devices and probably one of the oldest designs on earth representing a wide array of symbolic meanings among almost all cultures on Earth. I am not sure that there can be a more simple design that is imbued with such an infinity number of possible interpretations.

ROADSIDE HENKO

Illustrated is a slab and coil built Shigaraki henko by veteran potter, Furutani Churoku IV (b.1922). The vivid green glass and wadding scars together with the texture created when the piece was constructed create a wonderfully rich landscape and surface that brings the pot to life. The vertical form is a creative play on the slab henko most often associated with Furutani Michio, but these hand built forms pre-date both potters. Churoku IV, Furutanai Hiromu, is the fourth generation to work in Shigaraki and he was trained by his father and took the Churoku name in 1976. His works have been exhibited both regionally and across Japan as well as in England and Germany and he is best known for his traditional pursuit of tea ceramics, chadogu, as well as making tsubo based on old Shigaraki tea storage jars. Furutani Churoku is a must stop if you are in the Shigaraki vicinity where you can see a wide array of his pottery including his evocative hi-iro style pots which he is also well known for. Glistening like a lichen covered roadside Jizo stone statue after a rain storm, this henko makes me think of the highways which passed through Shigaraki Valley from a time long passed.

BLUE MONDAY XX REVISITED

I had several people email and ask to see a picture of the blue ash tsubo by Takeuchi Kimiaki, so here it is. Softly thrown, this classic pot has a wonderful surface created by both applied ash and natural ash acquired during the wood firing. The long and running tendrils of the ash glaze give the tsubo and impression of height despite being under a foot tall. Probably the most amazing aspect of this pot is that the glaze, very much like an opal, changes appearance rather dramatically depending on the light source. In low, dusky light, it has a somber, even brooding appearance in in bright light it has a rather festive attitude. The works of Takeuchi Kimiaki never cease to amaze me and I can hardly wait for my next encounter.

IN USE II

Someone recently sent me this picture of one of my bowls in use, the best way to see them in my opinion. Tomato garlic soup with freshly shaved parmesan cheese and a croissant all nestled in a black and white slip trailed terra cotta bowl. Though there are a number of cons to working with terra cotta but one pro is that the clay is warmed up by the soup and keeps the whole meal toasty right up to that last swipe made with the croissant. The bigger question at the moment is; "what's for dinner?".

SOMETSUKE II

Illustrated is a rather elegant, even classic Korean inspired form made of rugged porcelain with vivid, even wild sometsuke blue underglaze bringing the pot to life. The decoration of the wild, snarling tiger is by eccentric, renaissance artist, Sato Katsuhiko and in this case, his has rendered one of his rich two-dimensional paintings on to a stark, three-dimensional form, a skill he is quite adept at. Katsuhiko is truly a renaissance artist, working across every conceivable medium and creating bold and at times, confrontational images in a wide array of material. In this particular case, the pot was thrown by a potter, not Sato and then decorated in cobalt sometsuke style at which he was exceptional gifted. If you look closely, at the neck of the pot, nestled between the tiger's ears, Sato has painted one of his trademark Jizo for which he is well known for. One can not help but be engaged by the pot and image, its humor infectious and its energy palpable, the artist's real talent may be his unique ability to connect with the viewer in a wide array of emotions, pushing the button of those his works come in contact with.

BLUE MONDAY XX

 

Illustrated is a detail shot of the shoulder and mouth of a soft blue ash Tokoname tsubo by Takeuchi Kimiaki. Thrown out of a rich Tokoname clay and then glazed in a blue toned ash glaze, this pot was then wood fired at some point mid-way in the kiln with just hints of natural fallen ash and charcoal effects dusting the pot. I thought this was an excellent juxtaposition to the ash glazed plate that I posted up a week ago and shows the rich and creative diversity Takeuchi Kimiaki was well known for. It is for works exactly such as this one that Takeuchi Kimiaki was able to take up the mantle of Tokoname pottery that his master, Ezaki Issei had laid the ground work for and added new, multi-dimensional and evocative contributions to a tradition born a thousand years earlier.

NOT A THING TO DO WITH POTTERY

When I am looking at, thinking about or making pottery, I am constantly trying to get at what it is that makes something good. What are the attributes or components that make the whole cohesive, understandable and superior? Though this has little to do with pottery, what springs to mind is the 1961 Japanese film; YOJIMBO. For those that have seen YOJIMBO, what is immediately apparent is that the movie is nearly flawless, perfect if you will, nothing superfluous and seemingly simple in construction and plot, after all, even Clint Eastwood and Bruce Willis tried their hand at the story line. That being said, the story line crafted by Akira Kurosawa and Kikushima Ryuzo is exceptional, the cinematography by Miyagawa Kazuo and direction by Kurosawa is both innovative and truthful, the musical score by Sato Masaru adds subtle depth to the narrative of the film and the clash of protagonist played by Mifune Toshiro and antagonist, Nakadai Tatsuya will likely go down in history as sheer character perfection. As I think of this film, it reminds me of all the "things" that need to go together perfectly to create a masterpiece and the more thought I give this, the more impossible it seems. I guess 1961 must have been a great year for assembling just the right pieces/parts in the form of a simple and highly enjoyable little film.

 

TEXTBOOK

I have written about Takeuchi Kimiaki (1948-2011) before in my blog and suffice it to say, he was a giant within the field of modern Tokoname pottery. Takeuchi took cues and direction from not only his master, Ezaki Issei, but fellow Tokoname potters such as Osako Mikio and Ogawa Yukihiko. Together, the group forged a rebirth into the pottery of Tokoname and each became synonymous with their own unique styling. Illustrated is a large hachi by Takeuchi Kimiaki that could stand as the textbook or signature style of his body of work. The surface has had a glassy green ash glaze "flung" across its surface with careful and well thought out design and the rest of the pot is adorned with effects of a wood firing that has peppered the surface with speckles of ash and the body richly reduced by charcoal created during the firing. As I mentioned, this style of plate is a classic example of his work and I have seen several of this hachi in print used to represent the potter for a vivid and creative style he was well known for. I am always amazed at the clash between such a perfectly thrown plate adorned with what appears to be such casual decoration; a method that is well practiced and highly successful as it was developed from the very core of a modern Tokoname potter.