SPEED DATING

I couple of times a year for quite a long way back I end up making a series of carved tebori pieces using cats, birds, fish and especially dogs. Coated in a thin black slip I paint the designs in ink and then carve away the background to reveal the decoration standing against the wonderful color of the clay. This particular square tray form is of a central theme character, WOOF flanked around the piece by four other, presumably female dogs and entitled, "Speed Dating". Please bare in mind this is just for fun and if you prefer the central character to be female, feel free to go at it and think Woofalina instead of Woof. I make it, you interpret it to your hearts content.

CYCLONE

Looking a bit like an unleashed, slow motion cyclone it is rather hard to miss the work of Hokkaido potter, Ono Kotaro. Most of his pottery is filled with energy, motion and even seduction as the carved piece and lines spring forth for a rather simple form that acts as the basis for creation. Thrown out of thick porcelain and meticulously carved, Ono draws movement and emotion from the simple material which he then softly blankets in pale blue or yellow celadon which presents some small weight to the overall presentation. 

 I must admit I am used to seeing Ono's guinomi, chawan and mizusashi where the carved curving furrows end like they are floating off into pace, he makes excellent use of the transition between the animated body and the tallish plain neck which ends in a thick and defining lip. It is rather easy to end up with a rather fussy area where the one piece transitions into the other but this has a magical quality where all of the vertically spiraling lines merge the the faint and subtle throwing marks of the neck. I have seen quite a few on Ono Kotaro pieces, the first being at a gallery exhibition in Japan where a mizusashi was illustrated in their ad and with each encounter, in person, in print or over the internet I am constantly amazed that each piece becomes its very own and unique presentation within a body of work that is well scripted and certainly well produced.

THREE THINGS

Two things are rather clear when looking at this pot, first off it looks like a chawan despite being a guinomi and secondly you wouldn't necessarily see his master in this work as he studied with Sakai Kobu in Toki for a time. As with many guinomi that I am particularly drawn to, this clearly appears to be a miniature chawan from the proportions of body to foot, the wandering lip, the slightly altered form and it overall posture. Made by Matsumura Sen (b. 1977) who now resides and works in Mashiko, he specializes in making Ki-Seto pottery in which he combines materials from Mino and Mashiko with the addition of cypress ash to create five variants of the glaze where each one has its own distinct characteristics and appearances. 

This particular Ki-Seto glaze has a moist, wet texture with some areas that are just a tiny bit dry easpecially around the base of the pot and the foot. On the guinomi there is an incised lotus blossom with luscious, glassy tanpan accents bringing the design to life and defining what one would consider the face of the piece. Well there is actually three things that are rather clear, having devoted over two decades to perfecting his Ki-Seto glazes and pottery, the rewards are great even in this pocket sized pot that is as great to look at as it is to use.

END OF DAY IV

When I am working in groups or series though it is the most expeditious way to process pieces there can come a time when you just have had enough. In the case of this impromptu design, I had been carving my "grasses" pattern close to three dozen pieces in three sizes from large to small and this particular piece was the very last pot to deal with at the end of the day. I realized while listening to an 80s mix-tape that I just needed to be done and couldn't make myself carve one more grasses bowl so I called and audible and improvised this not very large piece with what could be seen as a variation of the theme in a compact and more detailed version. Without the larger pattern I repeated the idea around the bowl in two seperate rings divided by a simple hatched carved band to fill the space. In reality it worked a bit better than some improvised ideas I have had, think the stack of misfit bowls in the corner of the back room (now waiting on the next Empty Bowl event) and this may even make its way into being repeated at some point depending on just how feed up I am with some other design I have carved one too many times. Who knows and we'll see but it does look good with some chocolate truffles in it.

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR

A friend and fellow collector I know has a rather large Oni-Shino tsubo and every year right about now it becomes that time of year where the tsubo is decorated to match the season's festivities. I have shown the tsubo before but recently at my request he sent me some good detail photos of the surface, taken without disturbing the arrangement that is and here is just one of the shots I received. I have a handful of really good detail shots of various tsukigata pots and when i am asked why I favor him as a potter I usually choose from the group of pictures and send them along with the notation, he is why. First off, I should mention that when appropriate, I love multi-level of glazes that run where the sky is the limit from the possibilities and potential of what may as a singular glaze never dream of imagine the outcome. 

With simple layers of Shino, iron and usaully all natural ash from the kiln, the array of surfaces, effects and otherworldly landscapes really does seem to be endless and in this case the Shino forms a frozen, fractured sub-strata from which iron percolates through and mingles with running ash creating cascading tendril and rivers of multi-layer streams of color. I know this is just a detail but from this details, like a mapping excursion, each pictures highlights the small domain which when assembled create the whole panorama of a pot just filled to the brim, or lip in this case with adventures in clay, glaze and fire. Certainly worth the journey, one detail at a time.

INLIBRO

I have had a number of discussion regarding pots that are illustrated in catalogue of book and as you may guess there are varied opinions as to the value of such. There is from some the insistance that it increases the value of the pot by some percentage (?) and at the opposite end that it has no effect or influence on the piece what so ever considering the long standing Japanese tradition of illustrated catalogues accompanying the pot. Illustrated is such a pot, an Iga hanaire made by Furutani Michio for a Mitsukoshi exhibition in Sept/Oct 1989 illustrated in the catalogue that went with the show. In the exhibit catalogue the photo shows a rather rich green surface but under differing lighting the vase turns a deep green tone with hints of browns especially where the ash has built up and pooled. 

 The form of the piece is more or less cylindrical though the upper portion has been slightly pushed oval and the spatula work on the front and back add a slight distortion to thepot as well. Complete with throwing marks around the neck and mouth of the pot, the base is encircled with a singular depression defing the base and the vase is flanked on either side by applied and pinch mimitsuka style appendages breaking up the somewhat straight verticality of the pot. I should also point out that I find a great number of Furutani Michio's pieces to be timeless, they have an austere quality and a weathered beauty that comes from knowing the material and firing intimately and this pot is certainly not an exception as it pocesses the very best qualities of the potter's vision of Iga. 

As for the debate, I would have to say my conclusion is rather simple, irrespective of value there is a comforting quality that comes from knowing exactly where a pot came from, approximately when it was made and that there is absolutely no question as to the authenticty of the pot. I would also add, what must the potter have thought of the piece considering he saved the piece and put it forward in an exhibition to show off his very finest, best work?

SET OR NOT TO SET

In the lead up to getting pots made as orders and for holiday sales, I made quite a few of the "blanks" necessary for several different designs in the medium and small square tray forms. Illustrated is one of about a dozen sets of the Falling Leaves pattern that I made though they are not sold as sets but left to the customer to decide what to buy or combine at their discretion or as the Bard may posit, "set or not to set". Though making the molded pieces can take some time as I can made three medium and three small trays a day, decorating them works quite well as a series. Once the thin black slip is dry, the yellow, green and red leaves are apllied and then quickly detail, sgraffito style and before you know it the dozen pieces are ready for the bisque fire. Working in a series make quite a lot of sense at the end of the day but as you can imagine, making sense is not exactly a mantra of my way of working and along with patience is something always in very short supply here.

MILESTONE

Almost two years ago the wife of a fellow collector contacted me and asked if I would be willing to help her sell off a small collection of modern Japanese pots as she decided to part with them, one at a time where she has set the price. As with a number of people, her husband passed away due to the pandemic and I was more than happy to help her with his collection. The most recent piece to sell was the Yoshida Yoshihiko chawan (of which there is a complicated and loathsome story to go along with that sale) and then she let me know that she is sending me a pretty Oribe bottle. 

Illustrated is a rather wonderful Oribe bottle/ tokkuri that measures just about 19cm tall and made by Okabe Mineo. It is hard not to be impressed while handling this piece from the sharp and angular form, the rhythm of the throwing marks, the wonky lip and mouth and the richness of the variegated Oribe glaze that coats the pot. As you can see in the photo, the band around the lip and waist are dark green where glaze has accumulated while the base shows off running rivulets of that have made their way to the very foot. The base of the pot is tooled out to expose some coarse clay where Okabe's personal mark is proudly and distinctly incised. The truth is that despite its measurements, this has the feel of being a large pot, certainly a classic piece by Okabe Mineo clearly showing off the many attributes of why his pottery is so sought after and even today still represents a milestone addition to what is the modern Oribe tradition.

SQUARED²

I encountered my first pottery by Sakata Deika XIII at the home of the late Dr. Fred Baekeland where he and his wife generously showed my wife and I pot after pot without hesitation along with Meiji era scrolls and Nihonga paintings. The pots we saw at this time, perhaps 1990 or so was an Ido style chawan and a cylindrical vase about 11" tall. Both were nice but we had our sights set on something else but the encounter was more than enough to turn intrigue into interest. On our second trip to Japan we went to a department store exhibition of his work and we were fortunate enough to meet Sakata-san where he autographed a catalogue for us and we purchased a guinomi, all that we could honestly afford. As time passed I collected catalogues from his exhibitions and then acquired the large Kodansha modern Japanese pottery series in which he was featured. One piece in the section on Sakata Deika stood out, the marvelous squared kinute hanaire covered in a wonderful white Hagi glaze which would remain as one of a dozen or so holy grail pots for several decades. 

Fast forward to this year and we encounted this kaku-gata kinuta hanaire that is a very close approximation to the piece illustrated from 1975. As you can see the base is broad and strongly modelled with a tall, vertical spire like neck cutting the perfect proportions for this form. The mouth is every so slightly crumbled and rough in direct juxtapostion to the rest of the pot which has a nearly perfect geometrical figure all laid out by the crisp and defined edges where thinned down or rubbed glaze shows iron like boundaries. As for the base, the glaze appears to be casually applied where it allows the fired iron slip to play its role in this two part harmony that is what I consider a squared square, several times over.

THERE AND BACK AGAIN (2023 Edition)

We made our annual trek down to Middletown, madison and Guilford Conneticut yesterday to drop off our terra cotta work at Wesleyan Potters for their holiday sale. After dropping off the pottery we made our way south and stopped at Nick's Place for cheeseburgers and onion rings, next door for canoli and chocolate croissants and into Guilford for several bottles of red wine. This trek is always a fun road trip with some color left on the trees passing through the mountains as well as areas with a hint of fresh snow mingled among the trees as well. We only make this trip a couple of times a year for this specific purpose but it is far easier than spending two days bent over and on my knees packing up six to eight boxes of pots for UPS which we have long figured out cost more than the drive, burgers and pastries combined. 

The sale runs from 11/24 thru 12/24 and if you are in the area or proximity of Middletown, CT you may want to drop in and see the sale. Illustrated is a pair of chocolate covered cannoli from meriano's hanging out in a test variant of my falling leaves design composed of black and white quadrants flanked by yellow, green and red leaves about the surface. I only made a couple of these pieces and I am still trying to figure out if it works nearly as well as the all black background.