A.P.

To some, this may seem like heresy and to others, well, why didn't I think of that? Recently in an email exchange with a longtime collector we were discussing being accidental guinomi collectors but unlike my wife and I who do drink various spirits, the other collector did not but had over the years found a variety of uses or "alternative purposes" for his guinomi that are just about as satisfying. At parties, meals and cordial, casual get-togethers he has used guinomi for appetizers, sauces, individual sushi dishes and even for desserts like sorbets, custard, ice cream and even chocolates. I thought the idea sounded quite interesting and I could image a table set with varying Japanese and American handmade pottery punctuated here and there with guinomi of various origins. The illustrated guinomi is a boxed but unidentified kannyu seiji piece that I decided to heap full with brandy cordials and though it looks positively large in scale it is just about 3.5" across and holds a very ample portion of dark chocolate goodness. I thought the contrast between the form, glaze and contents was rather pleasing but it would seem in no time at all, only an empty guinomi remains, go figure.

COLORIZATION

I know this is not exactly a great photo, in fact it is a jpeg of a photo from a Japanese ceramic magazine from 1987 and shows a rather early piece by Fujioka Shuhei. Though this piece looks a lot more Shigaraki than Iga, Fujioka is best known for his angular, hacked at, sculptural Iga works which are intensely fired and easily recognized due his unique style. This vase really catches my attention partly due to the fact that it is just as carefree and wonky a mallet vase as can be with not a hint of being over worked or contrived in any way which is just as it should be. The vase was fired on its side as evidenced by the ash pattern which is running across the sides and the remnants of shell scars show on the rear which is also the direction the neck is now leaning due to the fact that it was marginally supported during the firing producing the effect now seen. One can only image the color and tones based on individual experiences but I for one would love to see this piece in all of its glorious color and I doubt it would disappoint even one tiny bit. Where is Ted Turner and his colorization process when you need it?

"The spirit of Old Iga,
its body born in these hands,
and the soul which transcends time,
gives life to that which I shape."  Fujioka Shuhei (from the website of Fujioka Shuhei)

INTERLUDE

Though I am in the midst of back to back terra cotta cycles, I took a small block of time, a short mental interlude to throw a few stoneware pieces. Illustrated is a vase, about 11 or 12 inches tall and faceted using the technique I am working on. Along with this vase I threw a couple of tokkuri and a covered jar which will mostly be glazed in either Oribe or the saffron iron yellow. This vase had the foot cut in a hexagonal pattern and will be glazed in Oribe to best accentuate the faceted planes but also to collect on the bands and other horizontal areas that protrude just a bit which will create pools of very deep, dark green, an effect that I like very much. I have been enjoying working with this faceting technique as it leads to very direct and not necessarily predicatible result which to be quite honest can be a very good thing in the midst of throwing very predictable terra cotta.

A classical interlude;

THE VERY FIRST

Illustrated is a 4-Vue collage of a very nice Tsukigata Nahiko chawan. This is one of those 'rare" pieces that is actually ours that I post as it seems like 98% of what is up on my blog either belongs to fellow collectors or was just passing by. What makes this pot unique is not the pot at all but that it was our very first Tsukigata Nahiko piece and that it was a gift from a very good friend who knowing my passion for the potter just went and sent it to us one day a number of years ago. As a collector, the gentleman who sent it to Mindy and I was also a passionate collector with a keen eye who put together a rather impressive collection which had a number of Ningen Kokuho potters as well as individuals like Hamada, Kawai, Rosanjin, Kato Tokuro and Arakawa Toyozo. Several years back he decided to get rid of his collection selling off some and donating the rest to the Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City and the San diego Museum of Art. Now back to the chawan which has a great form and foot with a soft, vellum like sheet of ash that wraps around the face of the bowl which than gives way to an area of rich, shimmery iron and active feldspar. The lip has a sensuous and continuous undulation that guides the eye around the bowl only to draw the viewer in to the super wet and glassy build up of once molten ash that coats the teapool as it runs down the sides, frozen in a moment when the stoking of the wood kiln stopped and the surface began to coalesce. I should say that despite the slightly different appearance of the ash face this is a classic Tsukigata chawan in every respect from form, surface, kodai and the fact that the violent and ferocious nature of its firing is written all over the surface; think MOBY DICK manifest in clay!

GOLDEN KOMAINU

Though not exactly clay related, well not related at all, I thought this carved and lacquered komainu was pretty cool none the less. The main part of the head is carved out of a single block of wood with the jaw, ears and horn all being seperate pieces that fit in to this well constructed piece. Over the years I have seen a number of komainu and shishi made in this style in both plain, unadorned wood and in kin-urushi, golden lacquer but this one is just a bit different. This particular piece was made by the famous Toyama wood carver and Toyama Prefectural Designated Intangable Asset; Yokoyama Kazuo (1911-2000). Though very well known for his articulated Shishi and Ikaku heads, Yokoyama also carved a wide variety of Buddhist figures, flowers, fish, hawks/eagles and decorative ramma for homes and temples. I said that this had literally nothing to do with clay but in certain respects that is not true as the very same things that draw me to pottery also grasps my attention in many of the other applied arts, namely; individuality, skill, creativity, expressiveness and above all a voice that shines through to maintain a meaningful conversation between material, artist, craftsman and viewer.

EVERY NOOK AND CRANNY

I know I have adressed this issue in a previous blog post but I am always amazed that despite having a fairly reasonable space for a studio how quickly I run out of space when I get working, especially toward holiday shows and restocking galleries. I have two banks of shelves that I use to store and dry pots as well as one 8' table in the main room of the studio and another of similiar size in a room behind the studio that is used to store bubble wrap, bags of chemicals, inventory and an area to photograph. All these spaces, every nook and cranny fills up rather quickly within two weeks of non-stop throwing and trimming. During this process the only thing that slows me down is the necessity to slip and slip trail or carve (tebori) a percentage of the work. The photo shows three pieces occupying the space on my slab roller which I use every now and again to take quick photos but in this instance, this is where the covered pot and two trumpet style vases will reside until they are dry and then decorated. The other side of the slab roller is still free of pots but is currently home to a box of slip jars, a plastic jar of brushes and a container with the tools I use everyday. I enjoy this time of year when I get to work long days, throw non-stop and am as busy as I can get but there are drawbacks with so much stuff filling nearly every space it is a bit like working in a maze where any false move can spell disaster. Unlike the motto, "measure twice and cut once" the motto for these days in the studio is "look twice and move very, very slowly".

THIS OR THAT?

I think when discussing a specific work by a potter it is easy to say that he isn't known for this or that instead of saying that his is best known for whatever they are known for. I think I made this simple mistake a week or so back when I was writing about this very cool mizusashi made by veteran ceramic artist, Morino Taimei. While it is safe to say that Morino is best known for his predominantly blue based or iron red based vessels, he is in fact known to have made a number of chawan and mizusashi over the years. In this case using several glazes and wax resist, Morino has made a typical smaller form with a classic design using overglaze enamel and luster to create a decoration he is well known for. The surface is a well articulated balance of the pebbly black and grey green with the resisted area up on the shoulder nicely defining the face of the pot and adding a nice sense of irregularity to the form. Though this Morino mizusashi has already moved on to a new home it was a pleasure to handle, study and photograph and the visit will linger despite its three dimensional absence.

JUST RIGHT

Looking a bit like ripe persimmons hanging off an impromptu bamboo trellis, the design on this chawan reminds me of the work of Ishiguro Munemaro but is clearly the inspired decoration of the multi-talented Uchida Koichi (b.1969). I enjoy Uchida's works quite a bit and there is a lot to enjoy as his forms, surfaces and styles are quite varied and he is equally skilled at most of what he attempts and this chawan is certainly a textbook example. The form, glaze and decoration are in such harmony with each other it is simply a perfect bowl right down to the well dressed kodai and his choice of clay, everything is just right. The foot is thrown and cut in such a way to create a wonderful lift for the form and emphasizes the negative space under the main portion of the bowl leading the eye to the slight irregularity of the form and wandering mouth. I am captivated by the rich decoration which could have easily been created by a much earlier potter but was captured by a modern potter who is as dedicated to the old as he is the new and it shows in his work.

CLASS PHOTO

I had forgot that I had taken this photo until I was looking around for a photo to send to a potential customer and thought I would post it. This group was all made at about the same time and fired in back to back glaze firings in and about the kiln to fill spaces in some unique ways due to their varying shapes. This photo reminds me on one of those obligatory class photos from back in grade and high school and gives a good perspective of the various forms and surfaces that I managed to create while making other more tried and true pots that filled the kiln. Though these forms deviate just a bit from the thrown round, I wonder what forms to work on next; dodecahedron, octahedron, or possibly the holy grail, the icosahedron teabowl!

POLYCHROMATIC

Okay, I can hear a number of people going, what the heck am I looking at and understandably so. I have had this piece sitting on a shelf that gets indirect light from a light in the hallway and as you walk in the room, this is what you see, shimmering back at you from the dark room like some image beamed back from the Hubble telescope. What you are actually looking at is a detail shot of a Matsuzaki Ken Yohen-Shino mizusashi which has created a surface which is a contrast of a thick snowy white feldspar Shino and areas of nebulus iridescence that shows up under the right lighting conditions otherwise it looks like an iron rich, almost caramel colored Shino glaze. There is never a dull moment with this surface as it changes with every degree of angle it is viewed at and is painted through a fierce determination of the will of the potter and the demanding and ferocious nature of the kiln firing stoked by various woods and charcoal. I am a huge fan of complex surfaces that give the viewer not only a lot to think about but a great amount of conversation regarding pot and process, though many pots can be much ado about nothing, this Matsuzaki Ken pot is certainly not one of those.