If
you read my blog it probably is clear that I am determined to continue to tweak
a glaze no matter how satisfied I was with it five minutes ago, on and on until
it really can not be adjusted any more, think altered to the point of failure.
For a couple of months now I have been playing with adding washes over may
latest version of Oribe which has produced a number of different effects as
both failures and successes. This small covered jar is the latest in a series
of test that has come from some recent experimentation and I really like the
droozy, weeping surface that is composed of metallic blacks and greys as well
as silver and varying blues. This was the first pot that I tried this on that
had smooth surfaces and little to no throwing marks and it still creates a
rather active and lively surface. I took this picture in the sunlight because
truthfully in normal or tungsten lighting the surface looks a bit dark and
almost olive-brown but with the help of the Sun it just perks right up. I have
also thrown a group of faceted teabowls that I will glaze up and fire next
round and show the surface under several different light sources. For now,
given the propensity for the surface to run, I am just thankful the glaze
stayed on the pot and isn't now permanently attached to the piece of shelf it
was fired on.
This
illustration came from an auction catalogue from a number of years back, an auction
we made the trek to preview the various lots but this chawan specifically. there was a tremendous amount of
bowl packed in to this chawan with its wonderful presence, posture and surface,
a modern pot that has undoubtedly stayed at the very top of my list all these
years. obviously heavily influenced by the Momoyama masterpiece, MINE no
MOMIJI, this chawan is a tour de force by Wakao Toshisada and a piece I rate
extremely high among his body of work. I have handled a handful of Wakao chawan
in this style but this was the shining example, the others were not decorated
quite as expressively and lacked the movement and animation that is present in
this piece, in fact as I look at this pot, I can't help but see its foundation,
the clay still on the wheel, perched high atop a large hump of clay, still
spinning as the potter inspects his work and glistening from the recent use of
moisture to aid in the throwing process. Last but not least, the rich use of
color under the muting glaze surface paints a rather feudal narrative that
clearly connects past to present in a way that resonates beyond the context of
the chawan and its perceived purpose. In the end there is little else that I
can say but; wow!
Looking
a bit like a scarred landscape from some distance above, the wonderful dai-kannyu
effect (big cracks) on this Hagi guinomi read like an ancient treasure map of
some far off locale. Added to the deep, textural fissures, the variety of
colors play across the surface creating a rather complex and different
landscape with every turn of this diminutive little pot. Though small in
stature, this guinomi has all the power and character of larger pieces by Hagi
master, Yamato Yasuo, the purpose and determination of the form and posture
create a pot that welcomes use whether it is for sake or even M&Ms. This
rich surface is a wonderful blend of both tactile and visual stimulation which
can include the taste buds under just the right circumstances. "Pleasure
is a pillar to lean on, sake in front of me, comfortable company and the sound
of mortar and pestle."Hakuin
Today
is one of those days, a day to get odds and ends done including acting as a
taxi service and dropping my wife off at the airport. As soon as I got home, I
started firing the kiln which has two large test bowls, 4 slip test small tiles
and a group of test pots included among the mix. As a last actual pottery
related chore, I glazed up a porcelain test bowl in a commercial glaze that
someone sent me as a gift and admittedly, I am curious what the results will
actually look like. Before glazing up the bowl, I contacted the manufacturer's
technical person and got a few suggestions as to how to use it as quite
frankly, I rarely use any commercial glazes and I guess this particular one is
a bit tricky. With actual clay related tasks out of the way, I
collected up and packed two small orders which includes a pair of cup and
saucers and a group of four matching temmoku and ash 8" bowls using
recycled or perhaps repurposed packing materials and boxes. As you can see the
slab roller and clay scale are pulling double duty to get the close to actual
shipping weight correct as the USPS is a bit touchy when it comes to any gross
miscalculations. Once all packed up, I set up and printed two labels and
scheduled a postal pick-up which makes tomorrow just a bit less busy. As you
can tell, today was one of those days of multi-tasking and completing some odds
and ends, all necessary and just part of my pottery week and what beats being
busy to make Monday just a bit easier to manage. Did I mention my wife is out of town? That means a week
of really bad, great cult movies!
Last
week I received an email asking me about the Kaneshige Kosuke piece known as
"Floating Object or Portrait" that I had put up on my blog that in
the photo somewhat resembles something out of an old horror or science fiction
movie. The emailer asked if I had taken any more "conservative" pictures
of the piece and of course I had, well over a hundred in fact. Illustrated is a
face on, overall photo of the sculptural piece that I think gives a rather
clear picture of the Bizen object for which Kaneshige is well known. The
surface has just the right firing to bring out the details and crisp cuts and
edges of the piece allowing all of the clay and texture to come front and
center which adds a bit of tension and even drama to the work. I hope this
portrait of the Portrait is what was asked for and maybe in the future I will
collect up the photos and put together a short video slideshow of what is
arguably a rather fine and thoughtful work by a modern mainstay of Bizen who is
known to have strayed outside the box now and again. You can see the
original post and photo by following the attached link; https://albedo3studio.blogspot.com/2019/04/plumbing-depths.html
A
while back I posted up a rather unorthodox Ki-Seto kabin by Tsukigata Nahiko
that was made around 1972 or so. As I mentioned in the blog, the surface
doesn't necessarily conjure up a text book definition of the style so I took a
picture out of the ONI-SHINO book, also circa 1972 to give a more classical
example of Ki-Seto which Tsukigata has termed, Oni-Ki-Seto. Despite the
creative moniker, this chawan certainly subscribes a bit more to the tradition
and it is clear in form and surface that this is clearly influenced by
historical archetypes and the works of his master, Arakawa Toyozo while there
is no denying that this bowl is distinctly the product of Tsukigata's creative
and fertile aesthetic. I love the power of the form and undulating lip and the
richness of the surface with areas of thicker, built up ash deposits and the
emphasis on the verticality of the chawan written in the streaking, running
glaze. I really like this chawan for the blend of simple and complex and should
we ever meet, I hope it is neither bashful nor offended by PDA*. (*
Pottery Displays of Affection)
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.
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