NO PHOTO INCLUDED

On and off for the past several years I have been making these thick combed slip bottles in predominantly three glaze surfaces; Oribe, AO+ and iron yellow saffron. Recently I received an email and asked if I could make a large AO+ bottle destined as a gift, normally the largest I tend to make is about 16" tall but they wanted something over 20" when it was fired. Piece of cake I thought and I set about throwing the bulk of the form and then added two coils and threw the rest to the shoulder and luted a neck to the pot when it was firm enough. Once tooled, I applied the thick slip and combed it and was pretty confident all was well. As you may imagine, this is where things went askew as the very top and bottom were slightly different in how dry they were and the addition of the very thick and wet slip caused a split on the inside of the pot where the first coil was added. This of course went unnoticed until the pot was bisque and came out with a crack about 5 inches long and just wide enough to slip a sheet of paper into, hammer-time.     

For my follow-up I decided to throw the form in three pieces, base, top and neck and luted them together, covered it in plastic letting it equalize, tooled it the next day and waited until the last conceivable moment to thick slip the piece. The pot came out of the kiln last week, measured in at just under 21" and was immediately packed and shipped out the same day and that is why no photo is included. Hubris and routine will sneak up on you and give you a good smack every now and again which is probably a good thing for a necessary course correction.      

Illustrated is the culprit that got this adventure started basking in the sun in an old picture taken several years ago. Thick combed slip bottle about 12" tall with my AO+ glaze overall.

SIMPLE ACTION

Though I really enjoy a pot with a complex form and surface, simplicity has an allure that is just hard to explain but easier to understand when you are engaged with it. I think the difference is like the disparity between Beethoven's  HAMMERKLAVIER and Debussy's CLAIRE DE LUNE, where the one is complex and forceful and the later is calming, soothing and contemplative, in the end generally speaking, a simple pot with those characteristics wins me over most every time. This large Shino tsubo by Ando Hidetake is just such a pot, thrown round and flattened on each side, breaking the flow of the round form and the symmetry is altered with this simple action. Once dry and ready to fire, the surface had a white feldspar glaze poured over the surface where thinner areas have blushed to subtle fields and patches of iron red bringing movement and a simple landscape to life around the pot. Though simple in its form and approach to glazing, the scale of the henko-tsubo presents a sense of strength that exudes volume, commanding the space it is placed within and that is likely the feature that drives its character and appeals to me the most.

QUITE A HANDFUL

I have to admit, I really admire Kumano's optimism, just let me explain. Given the sheer size of this guinomi, just how many cups of sake (bourbon, whisky) can you imbibe before things begin to spin out of control, especially your head? That being said, beyond the optimism, I love the scale and command of the pottery of Kumano Kuroemon where size and strength are written across the landscapes of his pottery and I think this large size guinomi is no exception. As you can see in the photo, this Matsuzaka-Shino kakinoheta guinomi is quite a handful, with a sweeping form filled with movement and a surface casually and spontaneously glazed awaiting the touch and fury of his wood kiln where a coating of natural ash glaze brings the pot to life. The large undulating form is balanced on a rather sturdy base where the foot is cut as quickly and routinely as the pot was thrown and glazed but make no mistake, what appears random and carefree is practiced over decades of making and firing which culminates in each pot that is the last that he has made. This experience reaches its crescendo at the completion of yesterdays pots, building yet once again with the pots he sets about making tomorrow, that is the nature of a potter's work, especially one as bold and adventurous as Kumano Kuroemon.         

I considered Voltaire's quote, "Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are all miserable" but decided to end the week on a slightly different  tone;  "The place where optimism most flourishes is the lunatic asylum." Havelock Ellis

RINGS OF GRASS

Illustrated is another large terra cotta tebori carved platter with an inner and outer ring of the carved GRASSES pattern. I enjoy making plates from small luncheon plates to larger 24" wall pieces that are made so that they can hang on the wall as decoration or simple storage. For me making plates goes way back to diversifying what I was making early on at the suggestion of Dick Schneider at Cleveland State University. In the beginning all I wanted to make was teabowls as that was a primary interest and thanks to Dick I took up the challenge and decided there was a lot more to ceramics than making small bowls. 

Over the years I have made hundreds and hundreds of plates but love coming back to the black and white and carved black slip employed on terra cotta, perhaps it is the reminiscent comfort of those early days learning to make pots and trying just about whatever sprung to mind. The grasses pattern in particular has been a favorite to carve, the repeat and routine of removing slip to reveal the design exposes the richness of the red clay and once fired creates a great contrast between the clay and slip, the very simplest components of making pottery.

DEFINITIONS

I suspect it is rather easy to go down the rabbit hole of definitions but always ending up using terms like classic and traditional but when I first saw this pot, my brain immediately flipped through the dictionary and went directly to classic and traditional without a nano-second of hesitancy. This Shigaraki te-oke mizusashi was made by Takahashi Shunsai and there is a nearly identical piece in the catalogue; THE SHIGARAKI WARE; NAOKATA'S TEA WARE & SHUNSAI'S JARS on page 116, No. 138, both are very well fired though the catalogue entry has a slightly more distinctive firing pattern on the face of the mizusashi. What started centuries ago as an everyday wooden bucket and evoled into a ceramic object of use and ritual, this teoke mizusashi was created as an homage or copy of a traditional Japanese "hand bucket" were details of the pot are reproduced and marked in the clay from the twisted rope around the form, the wood slats and the all purpose, functional handle raising above the water receptical. The surface shows its direct placement in the kiln where ash and charcoal have painting the main part of the pot  while fly ash has landed and melted down various areas of the handle and supports adding more interest and variation to the humble form. As if the design, form and surface wasn't quite enough, the roiro, black lacquer lid (nuri-buta) is of the two part style, wari-buta* which is clearly custom made as they vary in size and each one fits specifically to one side of the pot due to the irregularities during the making and firing of the mizusashi. Ultimately my take away from seeing this mizusashi in person is that it is rather clear that near both (ceramic) dictionary entries for "Classic" and "traditional" there should be a picture of a pot exactly like this timeless Shigaraki mizusashi.

           

In addition to the photo of the mizusashi in question I snapped a quick picture out of the above mentioned catalogue to allow for easy comparison between the illustrated piece and the one that I was able to handle and study. As I mentioned there is a rather attractive design created by both fire and happenstance which I find quite compelling and has enriched the surface of the illustrated mizusashi quite a bit.   

 

( *On a side note, I graciously received some information regarding the mizusashi and lid from an advanced tea practioner in Australia who told me this style of lid, two part, no hinge, wari-buta, split lid is intended for winter tea ceremony as practiced by the Urasenke school. Further, the hinged style of wari-buta is intended for low, wide mizusashi known as hira-mizusashi.)

 

DRAMA NOT TRAGEDY

Over time I have spent a fair amount of time learning when and where I can and studying every pot that I could get my hands on and during all that time I think I have to admit my tastes are pretty eclectic though there are a few specifics that stand out and one of these is the mallet form. I am pretty sure my penchant for the kinuta is well documented in various other blog posts. As I think about the various interpretations of this simple form I always circle back to what I constantly consider the north star, the mallets of Arakawa Toyozo and how his handling of the anatomy of that pot has set a standard that spread throughout Mino and elsewhere. As you study the works of Arakawa students and their student' students it is easy to see many of the details, scale and proportions infused in these more modern works and those of Kato Kozo are no exception.        

Illustrated is as straight forward a Kato Kozo Ki-Seto kinuta form as one would hope to see, the proportions are spot on with an expanding taper from foot to shoulder and then from shoulder to mouth creating an engaging appearance that is not abrupt or in any way breaks the flow of the vertical movement. As can be seen even through the glaze there is just the right amount of articulation in the clay where the throwing marks on the neck create subtle visual furrows that are pleasing to the eye and create additional texture with the glaze and fired surface. As for the base of the pot, there is a good degree of well controlled spatula work created that moves up and down the form and established a faceted like quality to the pot. Having an experienced ideal, the simple but complex task of making these various decisions while the clay is still wet sets the canvas for what is yet to come, glazing and firing, both hopefully willing participants in the process when all goes well.       

At first glance the Ki-seto glaze appears to have been applied in a casual and hap-hazard manner but if so, that is guided by decades of making, glazing and firing and knowing what small action affects the outcome of the pot. Once glazed in varying thicknesses, the next choice is where should each and every pot be placed in the wood kiln and having watched a number of wood kilns of both glazed and unglazed pottery loaded for some potters this is where all the heavy lifting begins and ends. Each and every decision will have consequences and relying on years of firing and an intimate knowledge of the kiln, once having survived the firing a pot emerges and the surface is perfect, covered in areas of varying textures and glassy beads of ash that have burst through the surface to punctuate various areas in serendipitous jewels. The face ends up covered in a rich, crusty aburage style crust that adds layers of character and visual depth that in some respects allows its dark mantle to stand testament to the intensity of this final act of the process narrative, in this case a drama and not a tragedy. There is a lot that can be written about a good pot, a good mallet vase and what is a classic piece by a great potter and at some future date hopefully a slideshow will fill in this drama just a bit better than this static image and short description.

SQUARED UP, ASSEMBLED AND FIRED

A while back I posted up a greenware version of this thrown round, squared up and assembled stoneware vase and here is the finished piece. Glazed in my Kuro-Oribe glaze, I used a soft layer of iron over the form to keep from obscuring all of the marks and details around the piece from where I have left soft rasp marks, joints where the pieces and lugs where luted together, the pie crust impressions around the mouth and the subtle upturned areas that help define the base and foot area. As I mentioned previously, this was rather quickly thrown and built without any real desire to make a perfect geometric form, instead I did what I mostly do, I "eye-balled" the construction in the hopes that would add a sense of non-chalance to the vase. I have to admit that considering the bulk of my work is just thrown, these thrown, altered and assembled pieces are both a blessing and a curse as when things go well it feels like time well used but when things go wrong, they usually go very wrong. All in all I felt like this was time well spent and an investment into being thoroughly square.     

(I will admit this is not the best photograph but try as I might I just couldn't get the surface to "pop" and I am left with a bit of color and the overall form. Hopefully the sunlit detail will give a little more insight into the surface.)

HERE & THERE; KI-SETO EDITION

A while back I handled a rather nice, certainly exhibition quality Ki-Seto chawan by Hori Ichiro and even thought I had built a slideshow video of it I can't seem to locate it at the moment so I went with this picture for the time being. Though this is not the best quality picture, taken quite some time back, I set up this impromptu shot of the chawan in front of the exhibition catalogue that accompanied the bowl. The photo clearly shows the chawan in situ and in print but once again I am struck by the variation between the piece on the desk and in the catalogue. Though the print version is just a tiny bit out of focus, in certain respects they look like two chawan fired at either different times or in different locations in the kiln. 

Luckily I have handled the bowl and I can attest to the fact that it actually looks like both depending on how and where the teabowl is observed again a trick of the diversity of the light source(s). What I can tell you is that it is a rather classic example of Hori Ichiro's Ki-Seto work with a great texture and the waterfall of aburage styling across the face is just what I like as it blends back into the classic glaze texture. I am going to have to hunt around to see if I can find the original slideshow that I seem to remember making and if not, locate the photos and start again from scratch.

IRON TSUBO

Outfitted in mostly iron with hints of whitish feldspar showing through here and there, gravity plays a good role in the couture of this Oni-Shino ko-tsubo. Surrounded by droozy, running tendrils of mixed natural ash and iron this small iron tsubo was made by Tsukigata Nahiko and though clearly not a chaire, it is somewhat close to that scale at around six inches or so in height. As you can see in this photo this pot is covered, punctuated by speckles of iron rising to the surface adding to the visual texture of colors and effects colliding to create an ethereal sphere at home on a shelf or suspended in some distant and far off place. The form is simple, perhaps reminiscent of its larger cousins with just the right amount of movement accentuated by the throwing marks around the circumference of the pot with a distinct and determined foot and a mouth ringed in blend of ash and iron. I guess in the scheme of things this is a small, simple pot by Tsukigata Nahiko but the more you look the more there is to see and that is always my expectation of his work and the myriad of all things Oni-Shino.

EVERYONE'S FAVORITE POLYGON

While throwing either an order or a commission a few weeks back I took the time and made a square and a hexagonal teabowl to end my day on my own terms as what could be more exciting than creating a six sided polygon, everyone's favorite shape? Illustrated is the hexagonal bowl decorated in Narumi-Oribe style with rubbed iron panels with black decoration and sgraffito under a clear glaze with the remainder of the bowl glaze in Oribe. My goal was to get strong, accentuated lines between each plane of the hexagon and a good contrast between the clear and Oribe panels, I think I succeeded in my goal with that distinct contrast and absolutely no crawling from any surface incompatibility, for one of a series of one, this is about the best outcome I could have asked for.