HAMAGURI-KODAI (!)

When I first saw this wonky chawan I couldn't help but think what a unique and unusual foot, then I remembered what I was looking at and who it was made by and then I thought, well of course it is different. This collage depicts two views of the same foot from a somewhat wonky Bizen chawan by Kakurezaki Ryuichi and as I mentioned innovative, different and unusual go hand in hand with this potter. What you can clearly see is this bifurcated, wari-kodai style foot that forms a deceptively stable pedestal for what is a rather elongated bowl form all dressed up in a rich coating of ash across the face and interior with a wet fumed layer of ash on the rear. Thrown separately and attached to the bowl, the foot is highly animated and a perfect addition to complete the form while creating a focal point that to most is a bit of a surprise and even a novel approach for the kodai of a teabowl.     

I should also mention that when I first saw this chawan I couldn't help but be reminded of a comic strip from my high school years, B.C. by Johnny Hart. There was an ongoing joke where one of the B.C. gang spots a clam running on two legs and exclaims, "Clams got legs!" to which the clam quips, "Now I have to kill him.". This association is not meant to disparage the chawan (which I just love) in the least but I do have to say, every time I looked at the bowl or pictures of it, I can't help but smiling ever so slightly.

STARTING POINT

This picture was taken from an exhibition catalogue from Showa 53 and I was immediately struck by its wonderful shape and simple, even subtle surface. I love chawan of this shape, they fit the hands so well and the form flows perfectly from kodai to lip, to my eye this is the marriage of the old and the new. This chawan is simply identified as "Karatsu Chawan" and was made by Arakawa Toyozo so not the typical surface one is used to seeing but with every new book or catalogue I see the definition of his work expanded bit by bit. One of the reason I suspect that I honed on this chawan and the form is that if you strip away the glaze surface and try to imagine the bones of the pot, it is rather clear where Tsukigata Nahiko set his foundation for his forms and how a teabowl moves and occupies space. I am not saying that Tsukigata slavishly copied Arakawa, rather the principles and fundamentals of form are taught in the master's work and literally provide for a foundation to build on to create a more personalized vocabulary.  I think it is easy to see Arakawa in the bones, the foundations of all who studied with him (and many that did not) but it is what you do with that knowledge that shows the vision and character of  the individual and this chawan is certainly a great starting point for any potter East or West.

DOUBLE LAYERED NERIAGE (?)

I decided to kick the neriage concept up a notch, well at least for me and how I use it. The first step was to wedge black and white porcelains together and then once that was done I added to thick bars of black to the wedged cone at diagonals with as little wedging done as possible. I intentionally minimized the centering process and just threw the clay to the desired shape as quickly as possible and as you can see there is a finer pattern behind the bolder (which if you look closely you can see inside the larger areas of black), black pattern that stands in front creating a rather interesting overall effect. As I am quick to point out, this isn't exactly rocket science though I do like the contrast of fine and bold pattern circling the teabowl and I am not sure I have seen this done before and thought it was a novel approach to add something else to the neriage that I make from time to time. I should mention that I choose black to add as a secondary addition because I was concerned that using a less bold clay, the pattern from the rear would show through the top layer making things more confusing than harmonious and at the end of the day, that makes for a perfect outcome.    

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."  Lucius Annaeus Seneca 

MAKER'S MARKS

I was thinking about  marks made, various maker's marks and I remembered this picture of an incised, marked Iga vase by Furutani Michio. While I realize that a large number of marks made on a the breathe of modern wood fired Japanese pottery are in fact based on historical archetypes, most potters add their own unique qualities to these renderings much the same way that handwriting differs from one individual to another. I am not going so far as to say it would be easy to recognize this design and marks made as those of Furutani Michio but there is certainly a way in which he worked that is possible to clue in on from tools used, his existing vocabulary of marks, the speed and even depth of these traces made permanent. 

In regards to this decoration, I have seen this on two other vases, both Iga style that though not exactly the same they certainly bare enough similarities that if you showed all three it wouldn't take much of an argument to conclude they are all by the same hand.  One other thing that I wonder about regarding Furutani Michio's work is do these marks have some deeper, personal meaning beyond their use on older, feudal pieces?  The first time that I saw this design I was struck that it immediately conjured up memories of small road side shrines (dosojin) that you occasionally encounter while travelling in Japan and now find in antique shops, flea markets and even museums. As I look at these marks, I know what springs to my mind and am curious what did Furutani Michio see as he moved clay and articulated the surface with these simple marks?

ONI-HAGI

This tall, elegant henko has an intriguing history though I suspect a common one among collectors. Years ago I was offered this piece by a Japanese dealer and realizing the price was beyond our budget, I asked if I could show the photos to a fellow collector and as luck would have it, he wanted the vase. the pot was packed up and shipped to me first, I got to handle it for an afternoon and then it was repacked and sent on its way out west. This was not going to be the end of the story though as years later the collector decided to get out of modern Japanese pottery and move on to something else and luckily I was able to trade for this Hagi vase and several other pieces some of which we kept and others we found new homes for. At any rate, long story, short this Miwa Kyusetsu henko now has a space on a shelf somewhere in central New York.   

I first saw a group of these Hagi henko on display at a dealers in Kyoto in the early 90s, there were seven of this nearly identical form, all by different potters including Miwa Kyusetsu XI (late Jyusetsu 1910-2012) and a student and some contemporaries. I was immediately struck by the forest like grouping but more so by the wonderful towering proportions and posture of this piece, with a slight twist and ever so slightly leaning curvature as if standing against the wind, bracing itself to insure it function, its purposes sculpted in to clay. If you study the form made of a rich daido clay and surface made up of ash and a handful of other materials you can almost read 350 years of tradition and experience of the Miwa family in each and every pot. It is hard to not be engaged, enthralled even in the way the form and edges create a mixture of the formal and casual in the clay and the white surface, blushed pink with white crystals sprinkled across the piece paint a timeless and intoxicating landscape best known as Oni-Hagi.

BLANKS

This is just a quick picture of a blank canvas, an unadorned pot, I made this teabowl as a test and need it bone dry before I can proceed. When I was looking at this bowl, just after tooling the foot I was reminded of a workshop I taught quite a while back where I was asked by a participant who did not throw* if I could make her one of my teabowls so that she could decorate it. Since the workshop revolved around testing surfaces, I had a dozen teabowls made as "blanks", tooled one and gave it to her but it was the next part that really has stuck with me all these years later. She asked, "what should I do with it now?" and without really giving it any thought I simple responded, the possibilities are endless and it was at that moment that I concluded that was the most honest thing I have ever stated regarding pottery. If you take even one minute to look around the internet, what do you see? We live in an age where everyone who works in clay has not only a different approach and surface but luckily many show off the endless possibilities over the web. Though much of my work revolves around styles that I have been working with for most of my pottery career, every time I test and try out new ideas I realize, if I had ten lifetimes that it is still quite likely that the possibilities will continue to be endless and that suits me just fine. 

(*FWIW I offered to teach her to throw as the "give a person a fish, teach a person to fish parable sprung to mind but after 40+ years of making pottery, she was just not interested.)

ALL BUSINESS VIDEO

I took a few minutes this morning to build a short video slideshow of the Fujioka Shuhei Iga chawan that I put up in a previous post. As I mentioned before, this bowl is all business though filled with character, purpose and an homage to a medieval tradition. As I look around the bowl, well the pictures, I am reminded of an old emakimono scroll from the Momoyama period where the story and narration unfold as you go around the chawan with varying details painting a simple and deep picture of Fujioka's understanding of tradition. I hope this short video slideshow gives a slightly more in-depth understanding of this Iga chawan.

TIMES TWO (X2)

Now I love drippy ash and unctuous Shino, thick fractured celadon, large, wonky forms, brazen postures and forms but when I turn that chawan over and find a brilliant kodai that is well beyond the perfunctory and is devoid of flash and gimmick, quite frankly, I am really happy! A kodai that has true purpose and is distinctly creative that completes a form should be a given as a feature of a 360º, six sided object and anything less just takes away from what could have otherwise been a rather nice bowl. I have never really considered myself a "foot" person but over several decades it has become perfectly clear just how absolutely essential the skill of creating a good kodai really is and how many potters abdicate their responsibility for expediency and economy of time and simplicity of form. A  good kodai takes time, effort and lots and lots of practice where learning the mastery of throwing a bowl may only take several years, the foot can take a lifetime of evolving, mastering the art of removing, sculpting and crafting that creates an element that is not only complimentary but serves its "prime directive" of function is a delicate process despite how seemingly brutal the actual cutting and creative process can be.

Illustrated are two uniquely different chawan, almost as different as night and day though linked through the commonality of purpose, size, form and of course the necessity of a foot. On the left is a well fired Iga chawan with a great presence, a casual posture and just the right amount of "wonkiness" to captivate the eye and underneath the chassis is a very well cut kodai that not only is a perfect fit but it is pleasing to the eye and hand as well. The chawan on the right is a fun, almost playful hikidashi-guro chawan that obviously takes its cues from modern Oribe pottery at some level and like the Iga chawan, the kodai is very well matched to the chawan in both spirit and purpose. As disparate as this two chawan are, there is an even greater connection between them, they were both created by the same potter, Kojima Kenji who created these two unique styles and forms and made a somewhat similar style kodai match perfectly despite all the differences in form and surface. As I have mentioned, I love a really good chawan with an equally good kodai, I enjoy the enthusiasm of the process and the finished effort, the spirit of the creative solution and boundaries that can be pushed at, stretched and warped a bit and in the end be mindful to a function that goes back to the earliest pots ever created, does the pot work?

MEMORIAL DAY 2021

I live in the constant hope that as we move on in time our need for more fallen decreases daily though we must always remember those that have, to found and safeguard our fragile and experimental Republic.

"Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them." Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world. A Veteran does not have that problem." Ronald Regan

"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America."   William J. Clinton

ALL BUSINESS

I am easily attracted to this Iga chawan and if I had to sum up why I would say it is all business. Though I like some of Fujioka Shuhei's new work and perhaps it is telling about my character but I prefer his simpler, older pieces that were a balance of function, tradition and aesthetics of which this chawan is a classic example. Based on feudal archetypes, you can see the rugged qualities and modern strength that Fujioka is known for and as this chawan was fired on its side, the top half is covered in a nice, inviting coat of glass while the underside is fire color and details that treat the eye and the hand when in use. The way the ash runs to the resting place where the shell held up the bowl has created a permanent visual punctuation made of calcium and ash that is one of those serendipitous rewards of a fight well fought in a crucible that Fujioka twists and manipulates as best he may to his vision of modern Iga.