RAPUNZEL, RAPUNZEL

Illustrated is a pair of Rapunzel pots, a large wall bowl and a simple cottage style teapot both made of thrown terra cotta, various underglaze slips and a thin clear glaze. Each piece is decorated with a stylized Rapunzel nude and her flowing hair, vivid sunflowers and a dark, almost alien and distant  background of swirled purple clouds. Meant to be somewhat whimsical and obtuse in its portrayal it can be challenging fitting the decoration to the three dimensional form but it is also just another of problem solving with a pencil and brush in the hand. Like many fables and fairy tales and beyond the Brothers Grimm, there is a lot of hidden meaning and sub-text to these stories which is why over the years I have used a wide array of such myths, fables and stories to decorate my pots as it allows a greater degree of discovery beyond just the obvious. Lastly, I decided long ago to depict Rapunzel free and clear of her imprisonment, enjoying the sun and forest floor for a change, not usually how she is portrayed after all it is the 21st century.

TEASER

Today was an incredibly unusual and busy day so I am just posting up this quick teaser photo of a truly wonderful and large futamono, covered box by Ito Hokuto. The detail, technique, form and presence of his work just resonates with me and each encounter is an impactful and playful experience. His works are worth the look.

JUST THE RIGHT SPOT

As I look at the photo(s) of this wood fired jars, I am immediately reminded of the various Sueki jars I saw in various museums during the trips we made to Japan. This jar has that just fired look, fresh and spirited having survived the firing intact and with ash and hiiro painting the piece which has raised horizontal ridges and is further narrated by small feldspar and stones punctuating the surface. Beyond the Sueki look it is clear there are hints of Shimaoka Tatsuzo in this piece that was coil and thrown by Matsuzaki Ken in 2007 for an exhibition at the Keio Department Store in Shinjuku where this tsubo is illustrated in the accompanying catalogue. Forgoing glazing this pot, Matsuzaki choose to fire this in a strategic location in the kiln producing this haikaburi, shizen-yu effect like medieval jars of old though there is no escaping the various details that make this a modern tsubo. Perhaps the most defining detail of this jar is the proud and strong neck and mouth that finish the pot creating a rather strong appearance and presence, perfect for use or just out on display in just the right spot.

LEFT-OVERS

I took this impromptu picture to show off the left overs, not the food, rather the pots that have accumulated as extras from making sets and dinnerware commissions over the last couple of years. Where the dinner is ravioli, tomato and mozzarella salad and bread from our locally bakery, the pots are all made of thrown terra cotta, all black slipped, two low pasta bowls white slip trailing, to catch all bowls (omnibowls) also with white slip trailing and the bread bowl, actually a soup or pasta bowl is both carved and slip trailed with tama dots around the edge. I decided to take this picture simply because our dining experience, pottery-wise is rarely this cohesive and I thought best to get a photo as the next time this happens Halley's Comet could be coming around again.

PERFECT

I am curious if you have ever heard the song by Grace Jones, I'M NOT PERFECT (BUT I'M PERFECT FOR YOU) and if so, how can I possibly relate it to pottery? In a recent email exchange with a fellow collector regarding kodai, I was asked what is the perfect foot for a chawan. As you can image my answer was there is actually no such thing but that there can be a perfect kodai for each and every chawan and that is what most potters strive for over the course of their lives. Apparently this wasn't the answer that was expected but I stuck to me guns as I was running the Grace Jones song through my head and considering that varying styles, surfaces, forms all calling for differing kodai which is clearly evidenced in the wide array and unique interpretations for feet from potter to potter and bowl to bowl.    

So skipping to the end of the exchange, I sent this photo of the kodai from the foot of a high footed Shino chawan by Tsukigata Nahiko to show my point of view. To my eye, this kodai is well addressed, stable, very functional and works hand in glove with the bowl form making it the perfect kodai for this chawan. Would it be perfect for a large Seto-Guro chawan, a Raku bowl or a Inoue Manji carved porcelain form? I guess at the end of the day, each kodai may not be perfect, but its perfect for the bowl its on, well some of the time anyway.

SHINO BUTTE

Most likely as a result of watching way too many movies and TV, when I first saw this vase, what immediately sprung to mind was Devil's Tower (Bear Lodge Butte) in Wyoming and prominently depicted in CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND and in mash potatoes at a dining room table near you. This laccolithic inspired form made by Kato Toyohisa clearly has the presence of a rugged, craggy and rocky spire created over millions of years and now clearly encased in thick snow and ice but the resulting surface is actually the result of thick feldspar, haiyu, ash glaze and a good degree of temperature fusing clay, materials and the form into this geologically influenced landscape of mass and volume. The surface of this form was extensively carved, even hewn in the wet stages making for an ideal exterior for the added iron, Shino and ash which has muted the overall surface creating a rather inviting and soft appearance that is added in its verticality by the amount of running ash down the piece. It is rather obvious that Kato used the form, glazes and fire to maximum effect creating a pot both sculptural and functional in nature that acts as both landscape and abstract painting fused into three dimensions that leaves the viewer wanting more and being rewarded with each and every visit.

Illustrated is one of the follow up(s) to the Maximilian armor influenced teabowl. The first thing that is probably very apparent is that the covered box form is a real handful of texture which prior to the bisque I lightly sanded the pot to remove any sharp or bothersome edges and burrs so it now sits quite comfortably in use. As to the surface it immediately occurred to me that it had to be green, Oribe in surface and I think the choice was the right one. Once glazed and in the firing some of the glaze ran and filled up the bases of each, well most flutes creating rather deep, dark and even mysterious pools of green to rather perfect effect which is really quite effective at and around the Promethean, B.C. inspired finial. As I mentioned this was made a few days after I made the Max-bowl bowl so I decided to make a few more pieces including several covered box forms and the technique and choice of glaze seem well married though I think a rich, dark amber may work well on future pieces as well. I realize this covered box form is nothing revolutionary but in the end it think it a good follow-up to the bowl and honestly I wish everything came out as well next time around and felt like a good investment of my time.

GOOD IDEA

I first saw this pot at a somewhat obtuse angle and was immediately drawn to the simplicity and honesty of the lines and form. Constructed from several pieces and a rather good idea, the pot has a sense of disparate angles and curves all working in a well choreographed routine that is further enhanced by the wood firing from which it has emerged. The simple process of wood firing has worked to maximum advantage painting the surface with rich, red flashing and varying tones of green to sandy brown ash drifting and highlighting planes and angles around the surface. Perhaps the third act of this play is the daily encounter with sunlight and shadow that like clockwork drifts across the pot, illuminated subtleties and hidden features while the sun reaches its apex and then moves on across other pots on the shelves.    

Like so many of his pots, this is part of an ongoing series by Canadian potter, Bruce Cochrane and if I was going to sum up his work I think I would use the Paul Rand quote as the best description that I have at my disposal;  "Simplicity is not the goal. It is a by-product of a good idea and modest expectations." 

CENSER

This is an old photo, recently transferred from a 35mm slide to a digital image and was the very first picture I took on my first trip to Shigaraki. The photo was taken in front of the shop of Tani Seiuemon and is of a large, articulated and reticulated censer, koro flanked by two large dragons and a wild shishi atop the lid. The koro rests on three study legs and has a wonderful floral style decoration created by cutting through the outer wall of this double wall vessel and the surface is coated in just the right blend of hiiro and ash making for a rather feudal looking pot, several hundred years older than it actually was. Tani-san was gracious and allowed us to take photos and handle quite a few pots while serving us tea and sweets but this pot was neither for sale or to be handled and in truth, I am not sure I can blame him. We parted this trip with a small uzukumaru tsubo and a gift of a meoto yunomi set and some pictures to help jog my memory all these years later.

MORE PROTOTYPES

Illustrated is a pair of cups and saucers that were made as prototypes for a customer wanting to get a gift for an engineer. After some back and forth and explaining that the final design had to adhere to some principles of gravity and physics, this is what we arrived at. The cups were designed to be rather formal and straight  with a slight curve inward at the top, a tooled foot that is finished with a series of concentric circles and a thumb rest that also has an industrial look to them. The black ink line around the forms was simply used to make sure the handles were placed at exactly the same spot as the expectation was some degree (?) of conformity and unity. The saucers have a depressed area where the cups rest surrounded by concentric channels matching the underside of the cups with the edges finished with a gear like appearance.   

The prototype was accepted and I made a set of eight and only eight cups and saucers that were glazed in a dark green-black matt glaze that I have used in the past for flower pots and serving bowls. I was asked not to use any photos of the finished project but since these are simply greenware I thought this was a least a peek into another small commission and odd project that has come my way. A bit more demanding to make than most pieces due to the +/- exacting dimensions, these were still fun to make as I had never made anything quite like this before and after more than a few years of making pots, odd can sometimes make for a very intriguing day working in the studio.