Having
a few minutes the other day, I went ahead and made another kotsuzumi influenced
koro and admittedly it doesn't pay to just make one piece when trying out a new
idea. The construction of the piece was just like the previous one but I
altered the proportions a little to get a slightly different form which
includes four pierced squares in the knob to mimic the pierced and impressed
devices around the piece. Destined for my Oribe glaze with a wash over the surface
I am looking forward to seeing what this looks like finished and how the
glaze/wash combo responds to the sloping surfaces. As before, I will certainly
not count my chickens before the eggs are hatched but if this makes it and no clumsy
kiln loaders or unloaders get handsy than I will post a picture of the finished
pot when it (fingers crossed) makes it across the finish
line. "The place where optimism most flourishes is in the lunatic
asylum*." Havelock Ellis (* Sometimes known as a pottery studio.)
A
while back I posted a sunlit photo of a Shino mallet vase by Nakajima Ichiyo
and I finally got around to building a slideshow video of the vase. As you can
see the extremely simple form but good, classic proportions are a perfect foil
for the iron slip, Shino glaze and all natural ash effects created during the wood
firing that the piece stood up to. Admittedly this surface and indeed this pot
stand out among Nakajima's works from those others that I have encountered and
seen, the pot was subjected to a wonderful array of effects during the firing
process that make this pot stand out among the potter's body of work. The
degree of complication to what is honestly a simple addition of ash to the
glazed pot is presumably the best one can hope for where serendipity and
experience collide. I hope this short video slideshow gives the fuller
story of what this pot looks like in person and you can see the original post
where this Nakajima mallet vase is basking in the Sun by following this link;https://albedo3studio.blogspot.com/2019/10/sunshine-on-my-shoulder.html
The
end of the year always seems a chaotic time in the studio, rushed drying, decorating
and firing and in the aftermath is usually a total wreck. I went down in
the studio this weekend, my first time in almost a week to get a bisque kiln
loaded and get things straightened up and put away to find my 20+ year old
clock had met its demise and a single, solitary glazed teabowl on slab roller,
a staging point for finished pieces to get loaded in to the kiln. Sitting there
alone, I had tried every trick in the book to get it in to the last kiln but no
amount of rearranging or space sorcery was going to get the job done. Sitting
idle, waiting to be fired, this teabowl is next to the bowl I use to collect
excess glaze cleaned off the foot ring and despite appearances, there are
actually three glazes on this bowl, two very, very thin layers and a thicker
Oribe base glaze. Every now and again, I collect up all the contents of the
bowl and mix it thoroughly in to a wet glaze and test it out of which several
have worked out to make very cool accent glazes though never repeatable and
only in batches of 1000 to 2000grams one of which I used on an earlier version
of my Oribe until it was fully depleted. Now that the bisque kiln is loaded, a tiny
bit loose I should add, this glazed teabowl should fit in the next glaze firing and
not find itself alone again, naturally or otherwise.
Illustrated
is a vivid gosu tabi-chawan with a classic floral motif decorated on the front
and back of the bowl by Kawai Takeichi. Besides being a rather nice piece and
certainly a quintessential Takeichi pot, this particular piece has an
interesting, at least to my wife and I, back story. This piece is the first
Japanese pot we bought off the internet in 1998, a piece we spotted on a
Japanese website and decided to try emailing the dealer with what seemed like
no success at the time. The email I sent to this dealer was in English with a
few cobbled together Japanese written phrases but hours turned to days which in
turn grew into months. Then one day, out of the blue and almost three months
after our email inquiry we received an invoice email from the dealer for under
$90 shipped at the time we were instructed to pay using an International Postal
Money Order (IPMO) which we had to track down and order at our local Post
Office. After a week we received the IPMO, mailed it off to the dealer in Japan and about six
days later we received an email from the dealer letting us know the pot was
shipped by EMS and here was the tracking info. It was obvious that the dealer
had used some sort of translation program as the English was not great though
far better than my Japanese and here is what really stuck out from the email,
it ended with this cryptic phrase and I quote; "never push an
alligator" as did nearly all of his emails for the next several years. You
always tend to remember those firsts but I will admit, I doubt I will ever forget
that phrase and will forever wonder, what exactly does it mean, I am hoping it
was intended as some sage advice or practical wisdom as I can image the outcome
involving said alligator being somewhat less than positive.
We
wanted to take a moment to wish all a very Happy Holiday and Season's Greetings
from this end of the computer keyboard, including Khan who has dictated this
message this year as his lack of opposable thumbs makes typing something of a chore.
I found this photo on the web a number of years ago, it
may have been taken by Tsukigata Akihiko, son of Nahiko though I am not exactly
sure. Despite being a bit blurry and it does not exactly enlarge very well it
is clear exactly what you are looking at, quality control at a very human
level. The photo clearly shows Tsukigata Nahiko breaking up a serving bowl
while seated in front of a growing pile of shards with several larger pots
behind an iron kettle hanging from a jizai-kagi. Like every potter who goes
through this process of deciding what pots should be broken, it is clear by
Tsukigata's expression that this is a painful process seeing pots that came
from nothing but a lump of clay and then were nursed through the throwing,
bisque, glazing and firing process meeting the hammer. What I can say about
this process from my own personal experience is that though there is nothing
positive about this other than making sure the wrong pots don't get out, this is an absolutely necessary part of the process and I have broken
more pots then I care to remember. I suspect the exact same sentiment, that of
anguish and acceptance is most likely the case of what was going through the
mind of Tsukigata Nahiko as the sound of the hammer on ceramic shattered the
otherwise peaceful tranquility of the studio.
The
post title might be a bit kitschy but the truth is this is a rather curious
kabin (vase). This particular vase is described as Ki-Seto, well actually Oni
Ki-Seto to put a fine point on it and truthfully doesn't necessarily look like
most pots of that tradition but then again, when has Tsukigata Nahiko walked
along the path of traditional absolutes? This photo comes from a catalogue from
1972 or 1973, I don't remember which and is representative of the Oni infused
Ki-Seto that Tsukigata was making at the time ranging from very traditional
aburage style Ki-Seto to mustard tinged yellows to rich, deep surfaces like
this and a number of variations in between. Though this does not immediately
conjure up the thought of Arakawa style Ki-Seto, it is clearly a potter
determined to not only redefine conventions but also blazing his own unique
style with an Oni flair. I should mention that I have seen two very classic
Ki-Seto chaire and a chawan by Tsukigata and if and when I can find the photos
I will post them. In the mean time, enjoy yet another page to the tradition of
modern Ki-Seto pottery or as modern as 1972 gets these days now nearly fifty
years later. "The proper words in the proper places are the true
definition of style."Jonathan
Swift
In
an effort to see what else I could make out of this Ao+ glazed squared teabowl
I decided to make a wood lid to fit the piece and then finished it with a
ceramic knob. In a way, the teabowl has been repurposed in to a covered box
form, loosely based on old Haida bentwood boxes but in truth, given the form
and scale of the piece it still can function as a teabowl, a vase, covered box,
utensil or pen/ pencil holder so in many respects, repurposed is not quite the
right term. Thrown out of stoneware, altered square, thick slipped, black slip
decorated and Ao+ glazed, the form is finished with a roughly cut wood lid that
was painted a glossy black before having the ceramic knob attached with two
metal pins and epoxy. I have made a handful of these pieces with wood lids now
and though it is both relaxing and challenging to work with wood, I doubt I
will make a habit out of it as it is both space and labor intensive. I think maybe
I should stick with clay.
What
is more striking than a snowy hakeme mizusashi punctuated by bold brush stroke
splashes of iron? Well, I guess with enough time you could come up with
something or at the very least comparable examples but this casually slipped
pot with almost Zen influenced or inspired iron explosions makes for a rather
dramatic piece with both pleasure and purpose in mind. I have been aware of Kon
Chiharu's slipware work for some time though his Shigaraki pottery comes to
mind much quicker but his skillful use of slip, oxide and a thin clear glaze
makes for an excellent counterpoint to the ferocity and subtleties of his wood
fired work while clearly presenting just another facet of the potter and his
skills. I really like the motion created with the simple act, or art of brushed
on slip which is then punctuated, even stopped in its tracks by the bold use of
the iron brushwork which appears to be equal parts of aggressive impact and
thoughtful control. Though the components, the sum total of this pot are all
simple from the form, functional lid and knob, application of slip and iron and
the use of a thin glaze coating when you add them up the sum total is so much
more than all of those parts. George Saunders the writer said;
"Character is the sum total of moments we can't explain" but as I
have thought about that quote as it may pertain to pottery I have often thought
that "a pot's character is the sum total of all those details and
decisions that we just can't explain" and I think it applies when you
realize the sheer complexity involved with the act and presentation of making simple
pottery.
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