SIX MONTHS?

Whenever I think about Surface (Seamail) Mail, I can't help but think about the classic Split Enz song; SIX MONTHS IN A LEAKY BOAT and though I realize it is not a totally fair or accurate characterization, at least the six months part feels about right. As a means of economy, I have been using Surface Post (Seamail) for quite some time specifically when it comes to having books shipped from Japan to the US, it cost a fraction of EMS and though it takes some time, most books if packed well enough aren't all that fragile. As a general rule of thumb I don't start to get worried until about three months have passed and though not as traceable as EMS, you know exactly when it shipped and then it pops up on the radar when it arrives in the US  and along the way to your residence.  The illustrated group of catalogues, 41 in total arrived recently and though not a huge amount of stuff, it is still heavy enough with two hardcover catalogues including the Hamada chawan book celebrating his 77th birthday, the cost adds up as quickly as the grams do. I would recommend Surface Mail for books, catalogues and not fragile objects especially given our current circumstances with shipping and of course, Godzilla approves as well.

CHATTERING

I have to admit, the word chatter is not one that I can think I have spoken out loud in a very long time and to show you where my mind goes, that word immediately makes me think of two movies in particular; HELLRAISER and WORLD WAR Z. Having gotten that out of the way, I saw my first really in person piece of Onda-yaki, a small covered jam jar with chattering decoration at the home of Mitzie Verne way back in the early 1990s and thought I would like to give that a try. Using banding steel that I had been making trimming tools out of, I proceeded to make a tobi-kanna and set about chattering some terra cotta and stoneware pots. Off and on I have done this style of decoration but it always seems to be a passing fancy where I make a dozen to twenty pots and I move on to something else.       

Fast forward and while watching a movie there was a large Onda covered jar covered in chattering and I thought this would work for porcelain with black slip and decided to make a new tool that would chatter just a bit differently relying on just the very end of the tool to make the marks as you see them in these photos. I think this has a quirky look to it and fits the piece as well as can be expected and now I wonder if it will be another five years before I do this again?       

As a cautionary tale when I first tried this I had been making pots a little over a year or so and not particularly adept at using my homemade tool, that may still apply. In the studio at CSU was a guy who couldn't help copy just everything he would see and he set off make 40 or 50 pieces with chattering decoration and once bisque set about glazing them all in temmoku! Being the tech I gladly loading the gas kiln with his pieces and mine glazed in an amber celadon and a 1-2-3 celadon, when they came out he was just dumb founded as all the decoration was for naught. A word to the wise, use a transparent glaze of some sort or another if you are using this technique.

WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

What is immediately apparent in this photo is that the color is off, a bit yellow as my "wonder" bulb" finally bite the bust and I had to resort to an ordinary 100 watt bulb right out of the kitchen cupboard for a lighting source. That being said I had a window of opportunity to take some pictures of this classic, little Bizen chaire by Konishi Toko I and I decided this would have to do. Made in the classic hidasuki, fire marks style, this pot was wrapped in some treated straw prior to being fired and that caused the wonderful flashing around the pot creating an abstract and seemingly random design. This chaire is based on a bamboo node and was meticulously thrown of a fine grained clay ending in this formal and precise form which is an excellent vehicle for the hidasuki technique and its time in a noborigama firing. The surface as you can see is nearly perfectly smooth allowing the atmosphere during the firing and the straw wrapping to paint the canvas as closely as intended by the potter. This gem-like chaire has a partner in crime, a bamboo style mizusashi (made at a different time) with just vivid flashing and fuming that creates a stellar surface and like this pot, both add another paragraph to the expanding tome that is Bizen.

MOONLIGHT

Illustrated is a very early Tsukigata Nahiko carved and painted (gofun?) wood panel, the photo comes out of a catalogue from the early 1970s. Reading "moonlight" this panel has a chipped away texture that surrounds the two kanji and signature which pop off the panel due to the bright white nature of the pigment used to highlight the recessed carving. Over the years I have seen a number of Tsukigata Nahiko carved panels and though they were never as expensive as his best pottery work, one can imagine the time and effort needed to carve and finish these panels made them out of the reach for most collectors during his lifetime.

The majority of panels that I have seen seem to run about 80 to 100cm in length and are carved out of dense, unfinished wood "planks" for lack of a better term with fairly deep recessed carving in the thick and heavy wood. I am not sure how well one's sculpting ability translates to wood carving but Tsukigata also carved stone as evidenced by large carved stone steles on his studio property, presumably a skill he learned in part from his father. There are three distinct styles of Tsukigata's wood panels, the first is as you see here where the decoration or calligraphy is in sunken relief, the next being where he painted black or white ink or pigment directly on a flat surface and lastly, raised relief where the imagery seems to float above the base which has been carved away. What I can tell you is that despite the panel being a bit stiff, not nearly as organic as later pieces this particular panel is a benchmark of some amazing things to come.

TEST BUT VERIFY

Today was the type of Monday that really isn't quite 100% conducive to getting the week started, it reminds me of a four cylinder engine firing on only three. I spent the day running two bisque kiln and making up four glazes getting ready to glaze, perhaps even less fun that making glaze. On top of these chores I also made up a group of 50 gram test glazes for pods and several 200 to 500 gram batches to test out glazes on yunomi as there will be a number of tests and design tests filling the nooks and crannies of the upcoming glaze firings. With any luck, maybe I'll get something to pan out.   

Illustrated is one of the test bowl made up of a rather sandy white stoneware that I am testing, making it up in 10 lbs dry batches. The surface was scrapped open to expose the sand and then I impressed squares in opposing corners to break up the surfaces a bit. As with much of the testing these days this will end up being glazed in the Kuro-Oribe style with a very slight twist that will highlight the center of each plane a bit more. For this specific surface the ongoing testing is two-fold; tweak the overall look and verify that the technique is repeatable which is always a good attribute for a new glaze.

ONE SMALL PACKAGE

Illustrated is a rather well fired Iga chaire by Furutani Michio that showcases the brilliance of his firing and potting skills all in this one small package. The form has just enough visual tension, just enough volume, wonderful posture and a rich and unique surface to create a modern and expressionist  tour de force. Beyond the purely aesthetic observations, this chaire is perfect for the task at hand in size and scale of the aperture, as with most of Furutani Michio's pots, despite all other considerations, function, utility are the primary reasoning behind the creation of his brilliant Shigaraki and Iga works. As for the surface, the chaire is covered in ash from simple thin dusted ash to areas of thick built up glaze which that collects on the shoulder before creating these vivid rivulets of colors one doesn't see all that often, especially on such a confined space. At the end of the day, this pot is another highly successful piece by a master of his craft and art who despite his early passing has left not only a substantial body of work but has added his unique mark on the two traditions that he worked within and influenced his contemporaries and generations to come.  

(I had meant to post this up on July 20th but just couldn't find the photo. A few days late but here it is.)

A TALE OF TWO SHISHI

I decided to play around photographing this pair of shishi, one ceramic and one bronze and decided on the B&W somber framing for this pair. Both of these pieces have been up on my blog previously but by way of re-introductions, the koro in the background was created by Tsukigata Nahiko and the Shigaraki koro in the foreground was made by Kawai Koji and presents a rather intriguing juxtaposition, a tale of two shishi in gilded bronze and wood fired ceramics. I thought it quite interesting that both are very close to the same size and posture though the weight is significantly different between them. The way in which each shishi vents incense is also very close yet I suspect it is likely a result of the many thousands of archetypes that has proceeded these two potters creations. On a side note, the real inspiration behind this photo other than the fact that I had both koro on hand was from a scene in what I seem to remember as a Charlie Chan movie from the 1940s with Sydney Toler (pardon all the stereotypes). In the film there was a matching set of ancient bronze style koro on either end of a shelf and I couldn't help but be influenced by yet another classic black & white movie after all, there is no hiding that I am a product of both the big and small screens and somewhat partial to a well presented shishi (koro) as well.

"All television is educational television. The question is; what is it teaching?"  Nicholas Johnson

RESTING COMFORTABLY

Now that the really cold months in my studio are well behind me it is somewhat safe to make altered terra cotta pots without the fear of them drying too unevenly or quickly and either warping or self-destructing. What is easier to start with than throwing a bottomless cylinder, pushing it around a bit and slapping a bottom and a couple of handles on it. The rougher part of this build is giving it a once over in black slip, waiting a bit (not my strong suit) and carving an XO repeat pattern on the piece. It is as you can see, resting comfortably, hanging out just drying and waiting on the next steps of a bisque fire, then glazing and finish firing, the life of an oval baker must be tough.

CRUCIBLE

The Kumano Northern guinomi got me thinking about a number of Kumano jpegs that I have had on the computer for some time now. One picture in particular that stood out was this illustrated shot of a Kumano chawan just lounging, perhaps hiding in the shadows but bathed in a swath of direct sunlight. The thick, curdled Kumano Shino glaze is covered over in a wet, glassy coating of natural ash built up during his intense, other worldly firings while the back of the bowl has blushed to an almost angry fiery, orange color creating quite a contrast to the face. These encounters leave me with a true sense of awe where the aggressive act of the firing process, masculine presence and form combined with a herculean spirit are locked in some form of visual combat which further moves the narrative of idea, creation and process to a new level. From my perspective it is quite easy to get wordy in describing the work of Kumano as his chawan emerge from the crucible forged but just out of reach of both logic and intuition.

ALL IN

Admittedly I am not necessarily the most organized person when it comes to the computer but I do my best and think I have a system. I have bunches of files in varying folders and there is quite a bit of stuff that isn't easily identified by the names on the pictures of sub-folders but I manage to get by. In a recent email exchange I remembered that I have made a video slideshow of the Kuro-Bizen chawan by Kondo Masahiko and finally decided to put it up on Youtube and also on my blog. I think this video captures the nature of the chawan with the differences seen on the front and the back all heavily influenced by the dark oxide rich slip applied the clay before subjecting the pot to its obligatory noborigama wood firing. One other feature that I just want to point out is the carved area on opposite sides that seems to add a sense of tension to the form of the chawan that has a rather natural feel and an excellent addition highlighted by the firing giving it that "all in" feel. Enjoy the short slideshow and hopefully this fills in those little details that have a rather large impact on the chawan.