RETRO-VIBE

Small covered cap jar based on exagerated bamboo nodes from a couple of firings back. This pot was thrown/ tooled and then covered over in a thin black slip before applying a thick white that was given the hakeme treatment. Once bisque the jar and lid were glazed in the soda blue for a nice light appearance which has a nice retro-vibe to it. This jar isn't too big or too small and and is part of a form group that I used to refer to whirling dervishes though this one is a bit more emphasized creating nice high points for the glaze to pool on. The past month has seen me bogged down in making terra cotta pieces just as I was getting a firm footing on the way to use this soda blue glaze which admittedly has its idiosyncracies and limitations. Even though it has been five years or longer since I last worked with this glaze at the end of the day it isn't exactly like I am starting from square one even if it feels like that on any given glaze day. Next step, make up 8000grams of glaze.

COOL BLUE

Illustrated is a rather large seihakuji covered box by Kubota Atsuko with an overall design of strawberries and foliage wrapped around the exterior of the surface. This wonderful cool blue form was exhibited and illustrated in one of her major exhibitions a while back and is a classic piece showing her mastery of porcelain, her applique technique and her use of celadon glazes for which she is know worldwide. The meticulous raised surface adorns this perfectly crafted box and is completed with a glaze that brings the entire piece together and presents a slightly otherworldly glimpse in three dimensions. Though Kubota is probably best known for her large, intricate platters, this condensed, dimensional form clearly shows off the best of her oeuvre and has the added benefits of being far easy to store, display and use and I have to admit, this piece is far more intimate and personal that what I was used to seeing which is honestly is my preference.

https://www.trocadero.com/stores/albedo3studio/items/1499000/ILLUSTRATED-EXHIBITED-SEIJI-COVERED-BOX-BY-KUBOTA-ATSUKO

BLUE SAND

It has been a busy and not in the good way kind of day so I am just putting up this quick detail of a Echizen wood fired pot by Nishiura Takeshi. The way in which Nishiura glazed this tsubo in his hekisha-yu, blue sand glaze has made for a wonderful landscape which is brought out to its fullest in the sunlight of the mid-afternoon, though some while back. The colors and texture on the vase create an endlessly moving and flowing surface that looks just a little bit different depending on your approach to the pot. Adding a new layer to the Echizen tradition, Nishiura Takeshi made and fired his pottery with enthusiasm and dedication and those attributes are clearly written across the pots surface.

WHY NOT?

I have to admit, I totally forgot about this 2Vu picture that I assembled only to run across it this morning. The original faceted Oribe water jar was made as a commission some while back and the intention from the start was to make a piece that fit an existing lid that was sent to me. This water jar was thrown somewhat thick and then quickly faceted on three planes that run around the piece horizontally while leaving a raised ring that interupts the facets and completed with a cut foot that compliments the form.  As with a lot of these pots, I went with the bare bones Oribe glaze which pools quite nicely where there are impendiments to gravity creating areas of deep, dark green accents about the pot.       

There is a slight irony to this posting as only the other day, a Japanese pottery collector asked why Westerners would make such pieces and my answer was quite simple, why not? Where would potters be without exploring forms and styles where ever they originated from? I suspect they would all just be stuck in the mud!

THE DETAILS

I have be fortunate to see and handle a lot of chawan (and other pots) by Tsukigata Nahiko over the years and to see even more on the internet and in various publications and from those experiences I have been able to take away a number of hard and fast rules. One of those "lessons" is that it does not seem to matter whether a pieces is Oni-Shino, some Shino variant, Oni-Hagi, Kohiki, Ki-Seto, Seto-Guro, etc, the vast majority of these pieces all have fairly round kodai, tooled round and finished round, finding a kodai that doesn't fit this formula is a bit like finding a four leaf clover, not impossible but perhaps best described as unusual.       

Illustrated is the base of a chawan that is in itself a bit unusual, the form of the bowl is kutsu-gata, also not round(ish) and as you can see, the kodai is a bit ovoid and though not easy to orient in this photo, in some respects looks a bit like a seated Daruma, narrower at the top and wider at the base. The wonderful tsuchi-aji and wad shadows are highlighted inside the depression where the foot was excised and is now surrounded by a wet, gray ash from the wood firing process, ash runs toward the footring as gravity and promethean fire has added to the iron and Shino glazes Tsukigata used prior to firing. Together with the well cut foot, running ash and glazes the potter has added more decoration to the bowl leaving his fingerprints cemented into the surface of the pot where he held the bowl while he was glazing it.       

I realize pointing out the anomaly of the way the foot was cut and addressed seems a small, almost insignificant detail but my personal belief is that the details make the pot, these same details authenticate the pot and these details are exactly why a potter builds a reputation over sometimes decades and decades of work. In the end, a potter like Tsukigata Nahiko is sought after because collectors flock to those details, no matter how small and when you add them all together and manage to fit them all on one small bowl it can be magic.

KOFUKI

I would be hard pressed to think that if you like kohiki style pottery that the work of Takahashi Samon wouldn't be front and center on a want list. Takahashi has dedicated his career to working with a number of different slip creating these cracked, dessicated and highly textural backdrop over which a semi-translucent or clear-ish glaze is used to either highlight or soften the narrative used on three dimensional forms.       

This kofuki style guinomi is a classic form and surface used by Takahashi Samon where the near perfect proportions bely the size presenting itself as a chawan in miniature which makes the piece all the more engaging. The hints of beige, cream, white, grey and black are all softened a bit by the glaze used which has large swaths of mirco-bubbles trapped presenting a slightly hazy appearance. This kofuki guinomi is very typical of Takahashi Samon's work and if you like "slipware", it doesn't matter what you call it, kofuki or kohiki, this potter has added decades worth of additions to a tradition that stems from ancient Korea to modern day Japan.

QUICK TRIP, QUICK POST

Last Weds. we made our way on a quick trip to Syracuse, to Mixed Methods Gallery to drop off a group of new snowberry and plum blossom terra cotta pots to compliment this display of mostly carved tebori pieces, a few B&W pieces and one lone abstrakt resist oval baker. The goal for gallery and this potter was to get work there prior to black Friday and hopefully entice those who are shopping locally at smaller businesses. I realize this is a quick post about a quick trip but between shopping for Thanksgiving day supplies, a bottle of wine, and other misc. errands, time has passed quickly today. One and all, have a Happy Thanksgiving Day if you are so inclined.

TRIREME

I find it rather fascinating that while looking at objects, we all bring in varying experiences to what we see or are reminded of in a disparate number of interpretations. To that end, when I first saw in this long, noble covered serving piece, all I could think of was how it reminded me of the ancient Greek trireme, the ancient vessels of the Peloponnesian Wars spanning decades, the Odyssey, Ulysses and other tales of a time of heroes. This wonderful detail shot is just one end of a wood fired oval serving piece made of porcelain by Bruce Cochrane. Though I am unsure of his inspiration and motivation, I am instantly transported to my youth and reading about the heroic tales of the ancient Greeks and the wars between the Athenaean and Spartan states vying for power, dominance over the region.      

This long form is sandwiched between these iconic ends which look like the fore and aft terminations of some vessel out of history, slicing through the seas in perpetual movement. This end is clearly the recepient of lots of ash which has melted and created a beautiful blue-grey surface that shines and calls out for attention, a bit like the sirens of the Ulysses tale making for a perfect handle or simple decoration that adds depth and purpose to the enlongated, altered dish. It is funny what we see in a pot, what reminds me of an ancient trireme may end up looking like something entirely different to the next person who comes along.

OLD & NEW

When I first saw this kohiki chawan all I could think of is that it just exudes a sense of antiquity. The form is simple, casual and certainly not fussed over in the least as if it just sprung to life from off a hump of clay on a potter's wheel. It is easy to see shades of much older pottery in this bowl especially from various Korean potteries from centuries before this bowl was even thrown. Thrown out of a gritty, slightly sandy clay, once thrown and tooled the body was covered over in a white ship which as it dried and fired cracked and fissured creating a wonderful soft texture under this yellow amber ash glaze (ame-haiyu). The proprotions of the bowl to foot work nearly perfectly creating a foot that acts as a stable and study pedestal to a broad and flaring form that despite its termination appears to continue to reach out beyond its actualk circumferance.    

In case you didn't recognize the potter, this ash glazed kohiki chawan was made by Kyoto potter, Kimura Morinobu. Spending much of his life pursuing ash and iron as the main constituents of his glazes. Though this may or may not be common knowledge, ash varries trememdously from batch to batch, tree to tree and bush to bush and though he would burn these materials himself, there is a great amount of diversity between new batches of new glazes. I have seen this style glaze a number of times and this one has more depth and activity that my previous encounters though I can't quite say why, using natural materials adds that small degree of serendipity to each and every firing and pot. However this pot came to be it would seem that the potter, clay, glaze and firing all worked in simpatico creating a near perfect relationship between the old and new.

SWING

Kishimoto kennin is a rather engaging and intriguing potter in my opnion, on any given day his work can swing from strictly traditional, to contempary to almost abstract and innovative and this is only his Iga pots that I am talking about. When you add in his kannyu seiji, celadon pieces, Kennin's diverse path has had him explore and master a wide variety of styles within the Mino tradition, wood firing and ceramics inspired from across the sea on the Asian continent. 

This particular Iga hanaire is a combination of tradition with a hint of contemporary styling creating a broad, powerful and sturdy form for a purpose rooted in untility. The use of traditional Iga style paddled decoration with the nobility of added lugs washed over by ash and a deep fire luster, this vase exceed expectations and the norms and though signed, it has a that rather spot on Kishimoto Kennin identity and presence, brought to a point where potter has refreshed the idea of exactly what is a classical form.