SITTING PRETTY

Illustrated is a knob, sitting pretty on top of a mizusashi by veteran Iga potter, Imai Yasuhito (B.1937). Featured in the GENDAI CHATO TAIKAN among a wide array of other books and catalogues, Imai founded and works at his Renzan-gama studio making classic and traditional Iga pottery which has a very feudal feel to his work. This simple and well fired pot has a knob that speaks of function while being classically dressed as a result of an exceptional firing. I have seen a number of Imai Yasuhito's pottery and each is a blend of medieval archetype with a modern sensibility and a very idiosyncratic firing. I can't say you get the full story from a picture of a lid and it's knob but after all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

FINGER PRINTED

Illustrated is another serving bowl using a Shino slip with an ash glaze over. It is a practical shape with heavy lugs and meant for everyday use; a simple form for a simple function and geared more for a small gathering than a large one. I enjoyed the way the rich red slip shows through like finger prints where I held the bowl to dip it in an ash glaze and was pleasantly surprised by the halos that appeared around the finger marks though I am not 100% sure what created them. I enjoy making straight forward and functional pieces, there are great rewards for knowing that my pots are being used and are part of the new owners simple daily routines. I read a statement a long while back about a mug that could save the world, perhaps it was truly meant to be a humble bowl.

"Form follows function, that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union." Frank Lloyd Wright

THIRD TIME A CHARM

Using a group of photos that I had taken a while back, I assembled this slideshow video of a classic and well fired Oni-Shino hanging vase by Tsukigata Nahiko. There is a wide variety of surface elements to be seen on this piece from a rich interplay of iron and Shino to the effects created from the natural ash that has painted the surface of the vase.  The gourd form is highlighted by a strong form, visible throwing marks and two carved areas on the front of the pot, top and bottom. I have written about this vase in two previous blog posts regarding Tsukigata and hope the third time is the charm.

SEIJI-SHINO

Having the form and posture of a well worn wooden mallet, this Shino pot is by veteran Mino potter, Yamada Seiji. The form is classic and well conceived with the flaring outward base and the same in reverse for the neck of the pot. The glaze, which I refer to as Seiji-Shino is wonderful with rich tones of reddish orange punctuate the form from top to bottom and the texture created by varying thickness of glaze with cells, fissures and pocks creating a distant and  somewhat alien landscape. Though many potters make and use Shino and many of their glazes look similar, there is a uniqueness to Yamada's glaze, a blend of the shiny and muted within the feldspar surface and textures that are recognizable as his work. The real beauty of the pots of Yamada Seiji is his ability to make simple pots crafted with careful details and beautiful glazes that have a great deal to say when filled with tea, flowers and food.

"Good Vases have free style shapes. They also make flowers much more beautiful and lively. Every time you arrange flowers with them, you can get new excitement." A quote from THE BEAUTY OF SHINO by Yamada Seiji

BLUE IS BLUE

Illustrated is a prototype of a blue on blue (blue²) cup with a bottom heavy foot that I made at the request of a customer. The intent was that it could sit well and the extra weight would keep the conical form from tipping over. The walls of the bowl are rather thin and even with liquid in the pot, it is rather steady and sure footed. The blue² is not exactly 100% accurate as the vellum glaze is made using copper and the streaky, runny blue is made using cobalt, either way, they both turn blue in the firing. I always enjoy making copper blues in oxidation from Persian blues to these vellum blues making for a range of blues that run from the soft tones to the harsh and they are a fraction of the price of using cobalt. In the end it doesn't matter how you get there, blue is blue.

IT'S COLD

It is cold, how cold? Well it is too cold to work in the studio with temperatures hovering at -10 at night and +7 during the day. It has made it as low as -21 at the house with the official temperature listed at -20 and yes I am aware this is a widespread situation and not solely concerning my neck of the woods. The issue is that my studio is under our house which is built into the side of a hill and is totally unheated. The temperature normally stays between 58 and 65 all year round and for use during the winter, I have two small electric/oil space heaters which work fine. However when it stays this cold for this long the temp drops into the mid-40s making it too difficult to work with wet clay and your hands constantly in water. The cold also dramatically affects the drying cycle and knobs crack, attachments crack, some s-crack and others warp. It is officially a no-clay zone until it warms up a bit.

I have a friend who recently uprooted from the mid-west and moved to San Diego. In an attempt at internet humor and possibly just a bit to annoy, he send along photos of the weather, flora, ocean and magnificent sunsets to let everyone know, San Diego is the greatest place on earth and to rub the cold weather in my face as well. He has kept up on the current northeast weather and is also sending along Henny Youngman caliber cold jokes and jpegs of San Diego basking in the sun along with some of the unusual sights he encounters on his walks. Sometimes, it just doesn't pay to have a friend with a similar sense of humor.

(Photo courtesy of a San Diegan)

MORE INLAY

There is not much I can say about this classic Kondo Yutaka inlaid cylinder vase other than it is quite rich and presents a distinctive impression with the contrast and movement of the black and white surface being highly animated. Drawing from a long history of aesthetics, Kondo Yutaka has managed to combine the old while always looking forward creating a unique blend immediately recognizable like a signature in clay.

Al Stewart; NOSTRADAMUS

ANOTHER GEM

What is a gem? The dictionary describes it as follows; 1) a precious or sometimes semi-precious stone cut and polished for ornament 2) something prized especially for great beauty or perfection (excellence) 3) a highly prized or well-beloved person. Can this term, gem really be used as an adequate description of a pot, well I certainly think so but I am admittedly biased. The illustrated piece is in my book a textbook gem, it is a chaire by Tsukigata Nahiko that used to belong to a friend of mine. Though many may consider it Oni-Shino, I would classify it as Ko-Shino where the thin Shino is infused with ash and the shoulder has areas of rich brown textured and the runs are glassy, ending in bidoro. It is a dramatic and poetic pot that is housed in a tea masters signed box with three compartments for the three luxuriant shifuku accompanying the package. Though I am sure what comes to mind for most when speaking about gems is diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and rubies, this is what I think about when someone mentions gems around me.

"There are little gems all around us that can hold glimmers of inspiration."  R. Mead

OUCH

I don't think it is possible to stress how important proper packing can be. Without taking every precaution a pot can be reduced to a pile of shards in an instant as the photo can attest. I recently had this nice Shigaraki chawan sent to me pending identification and stressed how important diligent packing was and the pot was basically put in its box with a ripped up piece of bubblewrap and this is how it arrived. The bowl was basically minimally protected by the bubblewrap but was loose inside the woodbox which allowed it to play out its own version of pinball across the country. A few extra seconds and pieces of wrap or tissue would have saved this bowl. It may be apparent how I feel about pottery by now and that this happens to a piece is both disappointing and frustrating with a slight pinch of guilt, afterall we are simply curators of this stuff holding on to it until the next person takes over. I am hoping next time that I sound like a broken record and ask the sender to please take every precaution to pack a pot so that it is well packed inside the wood box without any play or movement and the same within the shipping package that the pot will arrive just as it left, safe and sound and in one contiguous piece.

For anyone interested, here is a blog post that outlines how I pack pots for travel. Though this is not a perfect method, it has served me well over more than 25 years;

http://albedo3studio.blogspot.com/2010/09/packing-for-travel.html

FIRST ATTEMPTS

Illustrated is a simple slipware teapot that I just converted from slides to digital images. This was one of my first attempts at making kohiki slip ware and I am sure it would have turned out much better had it been wood fired. This piece was first dipped in a kohiki style slip and then glazed in a clear glaze that was based on wood and nuka ash. It has a rather pleasing surface that shows all the throwing marks as well as any marks left in the slip from fingermarks to drips and the clear glaze has a citrus peel texture reminiscent of some Shino glazes. In later pots I added black overglaze as well as cobalt brushwork to help animate the surface but this pot seemed fine, just the way it is. I have yet to woodfire any of these pots but look forward to the opportunity one of these days, maybe Jim can help me out.