OBG

As part of this extended cycle working in terra cotta I set about a number of goals that included the usual plates, bowls, covered pieces and molded plate (tray) forms and added slab bottles and oval pots to the mix. Illustrated is the first oval baker group that I made spread out over my work table and ready to be shelved to dry. Throwing large cylinders that are then made oval, the bottoms and lugs are attached once the pots firm up sufficiently and then the slip work applied to help complete the pieces. These particular bakers are a bit bigger than normal measuring in at just about 17" across when wet, they will shrink close to 15% before all is said and done but will still be on the generous side. After throwing for so many years it is always a welcome break to plan in projects that don't entirely rely on the wheel or in the case of the slab bottles have virtually nothing to do with throwing at all. It may be true that variety is the spice of life and that one should "treat a thousand dispositions in a thousand ways"*.

(* "Mille animos excipe mille modis." Publius Ovidus Naso)
 

A LOT OF MOVING PARTS

As I look back on the last two days of rolling out slabs, hand building two tall slender vase forms with too many moving parts for my comfort level and slipping/carving one of them, I have had a moment to stop and think about it and ask myself, what just happened, what was I thinking? It may seem that despite all of my protests of working in terra cotta and hand building in general I do more with both than one would think given my protests and reluctance to work with either. These vases in particular came about after running an old cartoon through my head, then seeing it on Youtube and I decided to see just how close to a profile I could make these without them failing either structurally or in general sense of form.  At less than four inches wide and the largest just shy of two feet tall, they are as slender as I considered feasible to remain upright through the drying, slow drying, bisque and glaze fire. I'll just have to wait and see this it plays out.
 

YAKISHIME

Basically, yakishime refers to a stoneware pottery that is wood fired without any glaze applied, think, Bizen, Iga, Shigaraki, Tokoname, Echizen and Tamba with a number of independent potters thrown into the mix. This wood fired chawan is just such a piece, made by yakishime specialist Konno haruo and though it has a certain Bizen flare to it, it is classified as yakishime by the potter himself. The surface of this richly faceted and formed chawan is entirely natural running the gamut from fire induced reds and purples on the rear to a semi-dy ash and a lot of wet ash about the rest of the surface. At first glance it appears if you turn the bowl upside down the liquid within will just run out but it has turned to glass through the ferocity and intensity of the firing all of which conspired with the clay and potter to create this unique look.

You can see more of this chawan over at my Trocadero marketplace by clicking on the link;

http://www.trocadero.com/stores/albedo3studio/items/1339070/item1339070store.html

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

I was recently asked why I make these video slideshows of pots and the answer was quite simple, I wish there had been such a thing around when I first started out. From my perspective, the slideshows try to capture the presence, volume and attitude of a pot while allowing details and angled shots to tell a more complete portrait in the getting to know you narrative. Before the internet, I had to go and look at every pot that I could, every museum and exhibition, ordering books from Japan and learning to read kanji to help dicypher the books as best I could. In reality, I take the photos for myself and the act of putting together a slideshow video only takes a few minutes so the question is, why wouldn't I?

I put together this short video slideshow of a piece that recently came my way, a Shigaraki mizusashi by way of Mashiko by Hashimoto Makoto, Hamada Shoji deshi. I hope this gives a fuller account of the piece and fills in any blanks from the previous photos, enjoy!

(BTW if you are now thinking about the GETTING TO KNOW YOU song, better to go with James Taylor than Rogers and Hammerstein version, just my thought.)

SIMPLY RADISHING

Now I know a bad pun can be considered a sign of a short attention span (or worse) though Alfred Hitchcock considered them "the highest form of literature" but since we were talking about radishes, I just couldn't help myself and let the jeering commence. I found this illustration on the internet quite some time ago and though I am not a huge fan of radishes as food, I found that this ink painting by Kitaoji Rosanjin captured the essence and even spirit of the ubiquitous root vegetable. If you look at it from Rosanjin's point of view as artist, arbiter and gourmand, the scroll painting makes perfect sense as natural as sparse lines and color can be. If you had asked me a hand full of years ago what I thought about the humble radish I doubt I would have much to say but after encountering Momoyama pottery, Kato Tokuro and Rosanjin all linked by this little veggie, I dare say there is certainly more here than meets the eye.

PREDICTABILITY

Based on where you study and with whom, it is still not easy to predict how a potter will work or where his evolution take him, even when your master was Mashiko legend, Hamada Shoji. Such is evidently the case when looking at the Shigaraki influenced, wood fired pottery of Hashimoto Makoto where a good portion of his work is more like Sueki ware than modern Mashiko-yaki. Taking its cue from perhaps some tea house surroundings or a Japanese garden, this stacked stone mizusashi has an ancient and weathered appearance with hints of the mysterious regarding its true nature. Fired in a wood fired kiln the surface of the pot has areas of ash deposits with a tell tale signs of charcoal induced reduction greys across much of the pot where the two lids, one ceramic and one roiro black urushi create very different looks for the tea piece. I must confess this is one of the more intriguing and enigmatic pieces that I have handled in quite some time and a testament to just how far one can follow their own voice even if their teacher was Hamada Shoji.

You can see more of this distinct mizusashi over at my Trocadero marketplace;
http://www.trocadero.com/stores/albedo3studio/items/1338581/item1338581store.html

RAPHANUS SATIVUS II

Over the years I have seen a number of wonderful Ki-Seto pots with various decoration of which the simple incised and accented radish design has always sparked my imagination. Considering I don't have a decent dry style Ki-Seto glaze I decided to make due and blend the design with the Oribe tradition to create moderate using pieces including this large sake cup. While still wet the mouth of the cup was lobed to compliment the natural theme of the piece and then the Momoyama influenced design was incised into the bottom of the cup. I used my rich lepidolite based Oribe glaze for the piece and I think that for the first and only of the production run, the results are not to bad. At nearly five inches across it will certainly make most aficionados pleased with the volume within and the design cloaked in the clarity of their favorite sake.

NEITHER FIRST NOR LAST

 

Illustrated is a rather unique tetsuyu (temmoku style) form that I would call anything but ordinary. Thrown out of a buff, sandy, plastic clay and then painstakingly manipulated to this involved form, the corners of the first tier shoulder had small appendages attached to add visual cues to the pot. The surface is glazed over in a rich and deep blackish iron glaze over which a rusty accent was applied for great contrast creating wonderful streaks running down the sides aided by the intense heat of the kiln and no doubt helped just a bit by gravity. Made by Mino veteran and tetsuyu specialist, Manten Totatsu (b.1940) he has dedicated a large portion of his life to working with iron glazes and manipulating them to his will and purpose which can also be seen in a long line of the awards he has received from varying organizations for his body of work. I have seen quite a few pieces by Manten Totatsu from guinomi/tokkuri, serving pieces, large hachi, vases and chawan but I have never seen a piece of this form before but based on the skill of execution and exceptional way the glaze works on the form, I suspect this wasn't the first pot of this type and certainly not the last.

 

"Tetsuyu develops variations depending on tiny changes in the kiln firing, temperature and in the shading of the glaze. Using an ordinary shape, by completely eliminating the surface works and by changing the glazes, I have worked to search for contrasting blacks and browns and to develop power and volume." A quote from Manten Totatsu on his study and research into iron rich glazes.

 

 

 

IF

If you like Shigaraki pottery and if you like guinomi and if you like sake, how can you not be satiated by this little gem? Like Old English style Slipware is no longer just relegated to the confines of England, this Shigaraki guinomi was made in Niigata by Tsuji Seimei deshi, Kon Chiharu showing off some of the best his firings have to offer. Though thrown, this little pot has the appearance of being hacked out of a block of clay with angles and jagged lines high lighting the surface and breaking clear of the molten ash that covered this piece. I will admit I am not a huge sake drinker preferring western spirits, it would be hard to pass on especially served in a guinomi as appealing as this one.

"There can't be good living where there isn't good drinking."  Benjamin Franklin

SHAMAN

Based on an ongoing flirtation with my "landscapeman" designs, I recently threw a series of medium size v-bowls and once tooled black slipped and carved them with a variety of designs, this one being my shaman motif. Intended to look like two shaman animating the surface, each engaged in delving deeply into the meaning of life, to divine the hidden truths of the universe or just possibly deciding what to have for dinner. What ever the case, the design articulates the space between black slip and exposed red terra cotta to make for a lively design. In case it isn't obvious this style is partially influenced by German block prints created prior to the 1930s though the decoration and designs do not necessarily bare any resemblance to that work. Hopefully, perfectly blended and assimilated, these designs and motifs come from years of watching old movies and reading lots of science fiction to create imagery from my own vocabulary which hopefully will remain a work in progress.