ANOTHER BLUE MONDAY

Illustrated for another blue Monday is a soda blue glazed neriage teabowl from a few firings back. I was pleased by the way the soda blue and black and white body work together and think this expands the use of this glaze just a bit more. Though I will likely try this glaze over a more complex and diffuse neriage, I really far prefer the bold, simple pattern as it stands out quite well and the balance between the light and dark is appealing to me anyway.

CHA-TSUBO

I took this quick, impromptu picture a short while back of this little pot by Tamba potter Nishibata Daibi (1976-2010). Marked "cha-tsubo" (tea jar) on the box, this little chaire like piece clearly shows a number of cues from his father's work, Nishibata Tadashi. Thrown out of a coarse iron clay, the pot was quickly faceted opening a wonderful texture in the clay before it was later glazed showing off that classic Nishibata/ Nishihata style. Though small in stature, the tea jar shows off a rather sturdy presence and instead of an ivory lid it is finished off in a ceramic lid, clearly glazed in white to give the illusion of the normal chaire lid. 

Perhaps my favorite feature beyond the purposeful faceting is that wonderful horizontal texture that moves vertically up the form showing through some of the glaze surface until it just disappears under the opaque white at the very top and shoulder. This is not a very complex pot but there are details and subtleties that bring life to this little gem adding to the mystique and appeal of a potter who had many more pots to make within a tradition his contributions were made all the better for.

OLD HAUNTS

Yesterday was a road trip day, down to Southern Conneticut to drop off pots at Wesleyan potters, have a lunch in a familiar spot, go to a favorite old spirits shop and of course, stop at Meriano's Bakery. Going back down to the shoreline is always a nice trek and yesterday we had pretty good weater with only a few minutes of overcast and cloudy skies all day. It only took about an hour to inventory and drop off my pots so by 11am, we headed further south visting some old haunts, places we would frequent more often than I should mention when we lived in Guilford, CT. Illustrated is a grouping of canoli that came from Meriano's on a snowberry tray made here at Albedo 3 Studio. Upon closer inspection we realized we should have bought more pastries, there is plenty of room left to use if you can see any of the squared platter through the sweet goodness! 

Eclairs and canoli by Meriano's, pottery made here at Albedo 3 Studio.

TWIST

Illustrated is a modern twist on a rather old tradition, this Bizen henko was made by Kimura Gyokushu XVII and though it relies on centuries of prior work and firing it carves out its own niche out among a large field of contenders. Aided by the flashed fire pattern and the dramatic form, this henko appears to be in forward motion but it rests upon a sturdy base and is perfect for heavy use or its visual appeal on a shelf or desk. The way the flame licked the form on either side has created bands of color that work well with the ash that has coated much of the mouth, top and shoulders terminating in cascading runs of a matt, tan ash down the front and back of the pot. In the sunlight the subtle, combed texture created when the pot was made stands out and further adds to the overall Bizen aesthetic suplimenting the illusion of movement even more. I think that the velocity of the firing process and nunaces considered by Gyokushu have worked quite well to create a rather animated henko that in use or not will always seem like it is on the move and perhaps just one step ahead of the viewer.

You can see more of this Bizenhenko over on my Trocadero marketplace;

https://www.trocadero.com/stores/albedo3studio/items/1498055/ROBUST-BIZEN-HENKO-BY-KIMURA-GYOKUSHU-XVII

CONFLUENCE

An emerald, part of the beryl family is made over great amounts of time, under tremendous pressure and cultivated by millions of years of heat with a hint of chromium and as one can imagine, it is a very coveted material. On the other hand, this emerald appearing bidoro drop is created over a relatively short span of time, little to no pressure and again in comparison to the mineral under less intense heat. Let's face it though, for anyone interested in pottery, this little gem and the multitude like it, it is highly sought after and is created in the same way as the actual mineral, happenstance, serendipity and what is really a confluence of all the right conditions; materials, heat and placement all aligning just right.      

In case it has alluded you, this detail shot comes from an Oni-Shino hanaire I handled a short while ago, not particularly large but just jam packed with every feature you could ask for. In this case, the photo is of the upper lip area which droops into the form and where the ash has built up during the firing, it has eroded small channels inward that then have guided the molten material into this singular point creating this deep, rich emerald green drop. I should mention there are two such channels and frozen drips on the mouth of this vase which must have acted as quite the leaky faucet as the entire interior floor of the vase, almost four inches across is solid, fractured green glass at least a quarter of an inch thick. Though I wouldn't mind having a handful of gem quality emeralds, this vase and its wonderful details and colors not to mention the beautiful bidoro is just fine by me and was worth the drive to get to see and handle yet another Tsukigata Nahiko piece that has made such a long journey.

HISSEN-GATA

A while back I was playing with a number of teabowl forms and decided to revive a style I had not made in a rather long time, the hissen-gata chawan (brush washing teabowl). This bowl was thrown out of porcelain and pushed slightly oval and I decided to go all in with the drama and cut in the recesses a bit deep to over-accentuate the look of the lip and bowl overall. Once tooled I applied thich slip and combed it from foot to lip creating a slight sense of movememnt around the bowl and glazed it over in saffron yellow which honestly makes it glow a bit depending on the light source. As a by-product of how this was glazed, the interior has nearly perfect lines of running glaze culminating at the interior spiral which has filled with glaze and is a deep, rich and dark amber in color. I made a couple of these and though the opinions are mixed, this is perhaps the best of the group and after all, the sun seems pleased enough to lend a hand in showing off the details and nuances of the bowl so who am I to argue.

IMPACT (II) REVISITED

I was searching through a thumb drive filled with pictures and ran past this photo of a large Shigaraki tsubo by Takahashi Shunsai and decided to post this up to fill in some of the blanks and give more of a perspective of what the other side of the tsubo looks like. The original post from 2021, entitled; IMPACT II shows off the dramatic face of the tsubo covered in running ash like a cosmic impact of molten ash collided with the surface. In contrast to the face, this photo clearly shows the underside of the pot where it was resting , one of the wad resists clearly visable and the ash running to the lowest point of the belly traversing an array of firing effects from the prolonged wood firing. In truth, I think both landscapes present a rather evocative narrative of the pot and firing and both contribute not only to the technical understanding of the process but also the aesthetic journey where potter, clay and fire converge like some grand chronicler of old.

https://albedo3studio.blogspot.com/2021/06/impact-ii.html

KI-SETO REDUX

I know that I put this particular pot up back in 2022*, so no, the answer is my mind isn't going quite yet unless I owe you money. The previous post, entitled, DRAMA NOT TRAGEDY showed off a Ki-Seto kinuta hanaire by Kato Kozo which was photographed using non-discript incandescent light. The current photo, a Ki-Seto redux, though a slightly different angle was taken using tungsten lighting and to my eye it makes for a remarkable difference and presents the piece which is closer to the actual color showing off the more soft, straw yellow that repesents the glaze quality better. I know I dwell on the varying light sources a bit too much but the truth is that I am trying to see pots in hand to their fullest capacity and seeing them highlighted in varying ways shows and captures details, subtleties and nuances that are sometimes overlooked, now if only I was a better photographer!  

(* https://albedo3studio.blogspot.com/2022/12/drama-not-tragedy.html )

THIS OR THAT

I have been having some problems with these Kuro-Oribe glazed hexagonal bowls recently, most likely to being a bit overzealous with the glaze application but is also proof I can still learn from my mistakes. As you can see, each of the six sides are basically glaze channels and with just a touch too much glaze, the channels are acting to, well, channel the glaze to a single meeting point. The channels met at three main junctions causing the glaze to run somewhat uncontrollably down the sides, the base and to the foot where it has been running onto the plinths that they are fired on. 

I should mention, being overzealous comes from the fact that the more glaze and glazes I apply, the richer and runnier the glaze get which is a positive thing in terms of the richness of the surface but not so much when it comes to gravity and basically liquid glass. For anyone following along, the fix is quite simple, use less glaze and thinner overglazes and this will diminish the running problem which is not a bad thing. So the fix is in but I have to say, the last bowl that ran badly had the penultimate surface of what I have been after but sometimes you have to choose, really wonderful shards or a a really nice bowl, you can get with this or you can get with that!

SLIPWARE

This rather rustic kohiki and iron glazed mizusashi was made by Ogawa Tetsuo who I have long admired as one of the finest "slipware" potters of Japan. While the term "slipware" generally is associated with the English tradition of the use of varying colored slip on pottery, in japan it is more about hakeme, mishima, kofuku and kohiki stle use of the liquid clay. In this specific case, this kohiki slip has cracked to create a vivid texture across the surface of the pot which has also been highlighted by iron painting a rather atmospheric landscape like the mist or fog enveloping some far off mountain range or valley, a perfect object of contemplation for the tea ceremony. This mizusashi was thrown out of a coarse stoneware clay and then carefully manipulated to a lozenge  or diamond shape and once completed was fitted out with a custom black lacquer roiro lid.         

In short, his pottery is guided by the concept of looking back and studying the past to find and define his voice within a modern tradition which for Ogawa revolves around slipware and his choices of clay and materials. Though the idea, the concept, form and surface are all rather simple the presentation and aesthetics have a degree of complexity that is both visually and tactilely engaging though knowing a bit about the work of Ogawa Tetsuo, this comes as absolutely no surprise.