SHOW OFF

I am not sure what the weather is like where every you are but sunshine has been  intermittent in recent days. On the day that this piece was photographed the forecast called for overcast which we did have until this momentary respite in which the Sun cast it long, warm reach into our back room and coated the shelves in a wave of light and shadow. Peeking out of the shadows is this very nice little koro made of porcelain with yuriko underglaze shining at the surface with tones of red, grey and green decorating the piece in a myriad of vines and birds circling the piece. 

Made by Yoshida Takashi, this koro was thrown out of a dense, white porcelain and then had feet attached to the base and a lid thrown and pierced to complete the form. The lid compliments the pot quite well and fits the koro so precisely that there is literally no play between pot and lid. As you can see in the picture the arabesque style underglaze decoration was rendered in a steady and well practiced hand in which Yoshida used motifs that can be seen on quite a few of his pots from large to small and everything in between. I think the sun has done right by this pot showing off the nuances and subtleties of the decoration allowing all of the variations within the brushstrokes to step up and be noticed.

SAIDEIKA

Illustrated is a rather simple and unadorned saideika clay style mizusashi by Yachimata, Chiba resident; Misaki Mitsukuni (b.1951) which is a masters course in the complexity of simplicity. Misaki was originally influenced to make ceramics after an encounter with noted scholar and potter Koyama Fujio in 1972 and was further influenced by the works of Mark Rothko in terms of surface and interplay between the graceful form and surface. This particular hand built mizusashi is nothing but curves, an organic presence that reminds me of full, fat adzuki beans with a subtle and complex palette created by layering liquid clay to create an elegant and contemplative journey. Misaki won Kikuchi Biennial Grand prize 2013 for this style work which seems a marriage of some alien organic life together with a unconscious episode of "happening" that should resonate with even the most ardent vessel traditionalist.

FIRST STUDIO

I found this picture the other day and though not exactly the best photo it clearly shows a series of teapots and pouring vessels that date back to 1993. The photo is from my first studio since leaving Cleveland State, the shelves were made out of scrap wood that was found in the two separated basements of a duplex in Cleveland Heights which my ex-partner and her mother had just bought that was where I worked for about 2 years or so. All of the work at this time was terra cotta and fired in two brand new electric kilns with about half of the work I made going to my ex-partner to decorate in her signature style. Half our time was spent making pots and the other half went in to the initial rehab of the building, truth be told, I am not sure which one of us was less tethered to reality but both tasks got done despite the fact that most times we worked in over 6" of water on the floor! Ultimately my wife and I bought a house and I moved my clay, supplies and kilns to that location though I continued to make "blanks" for my ex-partner to decorate as she saw fit, this was studio number two where I began working all by myself with no one else moaning about my music or hours.

If memory serves me correctly, I was making teapots, pouring vessels and pitchers for shows in Washington State, Massachusetts and in Cleveland at the GBF Gallery. The truth is, I had been making pots for only about 3 years and winging the forms and decoration as I went along, in other words, little has changed. I have always liked making pots that needed some assembly required and the pieces parts of teapots in particular where always both a challenge and time well spent. I realize this isn't a great photo but when I ran in to it, I just couldn't resist posting it up.

FROM THERE TO HERE

Unless I am mistaken, I think that when most people think about the works of Sakai Kobu what immediately springs to mind is his translucent, wet and ethereal Kobu-Shino glaze that he is now best known for. Like most potters though, Sakai started out as a Mino potter who made works in two distinct styles of traditionally oriented Shino glazes; one was like most of his contemporaries and the other  a drier, stiffer surface that is still obviously Shino but has shed the fat and creamy qualities that many have been in pursuit of. As you can see in the illustration, the basics are the same, the buff clay body is covered in a thin iron slip over which this drier Shino glaze is applied and once fired there is a crispness to the design yet the surface is still readily identifiable as Shino-yaki.

I like this surface and actually find there are corollaries with his best known Kobu-Shino; there is a quietness to these pieces yet they have quite a bit to say in a contemplative fashion where there are no bells and whistles only the bare essentials of a narrative in three dimensions. I am fond of the Kobu-Shino pots and always welcome the opportunity to handle and study them when the chance arrives but I suspect without this drier, more traditional glaze variant and all the others that he worked through it is unlikely that what he is best known for would have ever been created, potters and their pots generally evolve in a mostly linear pathway, from there to here. More to follow as I get around to building a video slideshow of this Shino mizusashi.

EVERYDAY

Illustrated is a kama-hen Shino kabin by Mizuno Takuzo made back in the late 1980s. The honesty and directness of the form, surface and intent of this pot really appeals to me, there is nothing flashy, Mizuno threw a simple, everyday traditional form, glazed it in his "regular" Shino glaze and then put it in the kiln and fired it. In doing all of these simple and ordinary tasks that potters do every day and relying on his years of experience, he handed over the reins to the kiln, the fire and a select choice of wood to complete the painting and narrative of the pot and that is what you see here. The beauty of a pot of this type is that it is simple, an accumulation of everything going right and moving a simple vase from the everyday to wanting to see it and communicating with it each and every day, you can't really ask for too much more.

SPIRAL BLOSSOMS

I have been working with this ishime surface for quite some time now, dating all the way back to Cleveland State. In that time it has been used in a variety of ways including being glazed in clear or transparent glazes as well as some opaque ones as well. It is enjoyable playing with this from time to time and that brings us to the illustrated mizusashi form which makes use of black, white and iron engobe slips to complete the surface which includes panels of applied color and inlaid spiral blossoms filling the spaces between each panel top and bottom.

The lid and foot as well as the interior are glazed but the rest of the surface relies on the engobes to complete the surface which is loosely based on a combination of early 20th century wallpaper and Japanese kimono design. This rather simple, straight sided pot was made out of stoneware but occasionally I use porcelain for this technique and they can be a nice distraction from the normal glazing process even though I make very few of these pots, just another day and another way from keeping from getting bogged down and as always the music helps out as well.

SINGULARITIES

I really love the details, not just of pottery but of everything, it shows you the measure of a maker, a baker, a lawyer, a scholar and every other person and pursuit. I also really enjoy capturing small detail, singularities that may go overlooked and help complete the puzzle of the whole like the last piece to be added. This particular detail shot is from a rather unusual, Korean inspired pot by Tsukigata Nahiko. In a way looking like a framed abstract painting this small slice of surface shows the effects of natural wood ash mingling with iron and the thick feldspar glaze to create this recipe of movement, color and texture; which to my eye is both molten and alive. It never ceases to amaze me how small specks of ash form free floating geometric forms while cascading down the molten flow created in the intensity of the kiln, mixed happenstance and years of experience, one can imagine that Prometheus would be proud. 

"Beware of the person who can't be bothered by details." William Feather

OFF THE WHEEL

From time to time I end up in a conversation about why I like a particular pot or potter, sometimes it is questioning my judgment (?) but for the most part it is more about asking what or how I see something. On more than one occasion I have mentioned that I have some aesthetic affinity for many, not all of the works by Masamune Satoru (Kengyo, Moriyasu) and my normal response is that I just enjoy the way he has handled the clay. This particular mizusashi is a good example, it is an honest, unforced and straight forward piece that was thrown with a certain directness; the proportions are rather good, there is very little effort to alter or mask the "off the wheel" feeling which imparts a wet and soft appearance which the surface enhances and does not mask. As I look at the pot, the bones of the piece speak of purpose with just the right amount of movement starting at the meandering foot and the undulating top of the mizusashi capped off with an appealing and practical lid and knob. When I have the chance to see or study a pot by Masamune, I see a steward of a cultural heritage that was motivated by a collision of tradition, clay, firing and an internal drive to create Bizen pottery in the modern age.

B+SSH+FP

Each and every project has a distinct beginning, some stuff happens and then there is a finished project, in the case of this illustration, this is the beginning, the pieces parts are thrown and a slab is rolled out, nothing much to write home about. The thrown cylinder will be cut in half to form a pair of ewers with the two "spouts, the furthest to the right being the preferred parts to be attached, the third spout will be an emergency back up or used for seams and ultimately for the feet of each piece. The is nothing fancy to the beginnings but I have seen a number of simple and unremarkable beginnings turn in to some rather dramatic and eventful pots. I am not saying that will be the case here, rather I need to get the parts set up and then comes the "some stuff happens" part and we can go from there. I know I am going to cover the pieces in thick combed slip and an Oribe glaze so at the very least some of the details have been sorted out. I'll post the finished project when they are glazed and fired.

(CURRENT) DESK-MATE

This pot literally just arrived here and was sitting on my desk when the light was just right and snapped this picture. My immediate impression of my new desk-mate was that I had come over the edge of a crater and was about to descend into the abyss of the form. The description may be a bit dramatic but one of the profound things about pottery (and other handmade objects) is that they stir our emotions and conjure up experiences and memories that are actual or fantasy in nature. This particular detail shot belongs to a rather uncommon (?) all natural Shigaraki vase with perhaps one of the most unique surfaces I have seen in some time. I will get around to posting a photo of the vase at some point as well as making a much deserved video slideshow of the pot when I can get around to it. What I can tell you as evidenced by the photo is that the vase has a eye catching landscape composed of various vistas of ash built up in both traditional and unique ways with some vivid tones turning the clay interior a rather interesting landscape that is easy to appreciate.