Return

After a long trip home, the first in 2 years, I'm back in Susaki and in the studio. There is a lot of work to be done before the opening of my show on September 13th. I've been granted space in the Machikado Gallery to display my work. I've never put together a show before, esspecially a solo exhibition, so my thoughts about the best ways to display everything and all the other ins and outs are really racing.

I have always loved texture and surface decorations. They alter the tone and give the eye a reason to pull the hands to the peice. This show's collection is largely going to e peices that focus on texture and giving a sense of agedness to something new, and also atempting to replicate the natural element of an atmospheric firing in my electric kiln with only factory made glazes and changes to the temperature and exposure of the firing cycle. Just come and have a look!

Home was wonderful, as home should be! The whole family came out in force to welcome me back. We soaked eachother in for two weeks, and I even managed to see some of my oldest and dearest friends from both high school and the good old Wooster days. There will be more info and news to come along with more photos of new work, but for now the sauna of a studio is calling to me. Thanks for reading! It's good to be back.

"For the wheel's still in spin"

 

After almost 3 years of daily visits for coffee and tomfoolery, working to improve one another's teaching skills beyond the confounding barrier of two languages, getting muddy on days when there were no classes, and endless giving and kindness Tabe Sensei is now working for Susaki Technical High School and Kubokawa High School. They can't know how lucky their students are.  We spent our final day, which was appropriately gray and melancholy, of working together laughing about old times, and going on a lovely lunch excursion to a surprisingly fantastic Italian place near my school. Pasta, a surprisingly crusty (in the good way) peice of home made bread, and the ploting of ways to stay in contact despite now different schools. It was a bitter sweet day of fond farewells.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! For your greatness!

It's a sunny spring day today with enough a chill in the air that a light sweater is still appriciated, but hardly necessary. The sakura infront of the craft room are at their peak, and though quite (with a gaping Tabe Sensei shaped hole) the studio is still a lovely place to do work. I've been filling the silence with Mr. Dylan's songs. It seemed all to fitting to use a line from one of his songs for this post's tittle.

 The new craft instructor invited me down to the studio two days ago to watch me do some work. Yamatogi Sensei was a year ahead of Tabe Sensei in university and specializes in making wooden art objects. My initial impressions are dominated by his neatness, big smiles, and relative lack of English. After watching me work for a day he said that I should feel free to use the studio as I liked. His exact words translated to, "use the same as you did". This is hesitantly great news, and most of this week I've been in and out of the studio creating new pots. I recently watched a small documentary that focused on the pottery community in Minnesota. Sharing the Fire, is great if you are interested in seeing a vibrant potter's community, and many different journeys that all led to careers in ceramics. Check it out!

 

Somewhere within all of these farewells and new works I managed to have some really great visitors from the USA stop bye. Meet the Strubles!

They came for a visit with Steph, and walked away with a family of three tea cups that have been looking for the perfect home. The visit with Steph's family was a hoot! They're a barrel of laughs and we surfed, beach walked, ate well, and generally shared good times. Can hardly wait to see them again. Hopefully they'll think Kochi whenever they enjoy a cup of tea.

I'm off to trim some of my new work, and possible throw some more vase forms (I am really enjoying bottles and vases these days. They take to texturing really well). Have a happy weekend!

At Last, at LAST!

spouted bowls 

salad bowl 

inside with copper melt trailing 

This last firing did some really crazy stuff friends and muddy handed pottery lovers. The longer firing cycle I have been using, the one the focuses on an extended down fire after the peak temperature has been reached, did some really unexpected things to some of my glazes this time. When I first went to open the kiln last week I was expecting to see a lot of reds and patina bronze blues. Instead I was greeted by deep milky whites with trails of turquoise, purple and silver amidst the off earthy yellow of the clay body I have been using. At first I was mortified. The results were far from what I wanted. The active coloring agent in my new glazes is some type of copper oxide and The results from my longer and higher heat exposure look very similar to my playings with melting copper wire to my sculptures in the kiln. 

Despite my initial disappointment in my work, no father can stay away from his children for too long, and after some extended time studying I am actually very happy with the new colors I have managed to create. After all, isn't have the fun of ceramics the element of mystery the kiss of flames and heat bring to the table. That kid on Christmas morning feeling when you go to open up the kiln for the first time. It's the best! 

More new photos will follow. I've been focusing on vase forms in the studio this week! I hope to upload some shots of them on Friday. Thanks for reading! 

Spots, dots, and new color bliss.

This one's bound for California to improve a dear friend's sake consumptions. 

The kiln gods were good to me this firing! Two sake sets and some twin cups many more photos to unveil slowly. This week is really full on with finals and test writing so Thursday may not happen. . . we can only see what the week actually puts before me. Enjoy the photos and your weeks!

Mapping unknown paths

New work ready to be loaded and fired this weekend.  

Monday came and went in a flurry of meetings for orientations, planing of vacations, and extra review sessions with my best students for finals. Along with surprising business of this week (and the lack of my promised Monday postings)  I managed to squeeze about 7 pots in with last weekend's firing of student work. Since the fantastic results from my first experiment in firing cycles the school has also been using the longer down fire process. However, this firing didn't produce quite the same results.

The colors are still pleasantly deeper, but the yellow ran and pooled in very different ways that I can't say I'm particularly crazy about. The wine goblets were fun to make, and have close to the feel I was going for, but they lack the controlled blending and transitions from one glaze to the next that I was really going for. Even though these forms turned out as a fun trial of the new firing cycle the coffee bowls I made turned out quite nice and got more of the layering and blending I was after.

I could ramble on out this week's muddy dreams of futures (much like last weeks post), wow you with hypotheticals that keep me tossing at night (and unfocused in the office), or I could just say that I'm really excited for the opening of the kiln on Monday. Live for the present right! I'm also excited for an August trip to Tokyo because there will be a fantastic looking exhibit focusing on the great one, Bernard Leach. You can bet your trimming tools I'll be going to that.

Have a great weekend!

Families 2

Happy Monday! Some shots of older work once more coming your way. Thanks to those who came out the the Ino City free market and festival. It was a great Saturday.  I managed to sell two pieces, a tea bowl and a little blue bowl.  I talked with friends, noticed a lot of older folks looking at my work then walking away quickly, and generally just basking in the sun. Unfortunately that sun has long since run away.

I know you see some of the above pots every day on my blogs banner, but I really love the idea that each set was glazed in unison to reflect it's sister piece. 

Not sure what this week will bring in the studio. I have tests to finish grading, but I hope to get in there and get my hands in some mud. Have a great week, and we'll see you with some new work on Thursday. 

The Blues

Not many words today. Just some old slides of my blues, 

and the knowledge that today was a fantastic day in the studio. 

Looking forward to Thursday's post. Hope you all had wonderful Mondays. 

Families 1

Happy monday everyone. Here's some more of the older work. One of the ways I try to practice my throwing is through attempted repetition of shape and glazing effects. At the moment I would say I can only create a series of pieces that at best share similar traits. A bit like echoes of the original form or concept. While I like that each piece has a unique personality, I really crave the dexterity, muscle memory, and steadiness of hand that comes with years of throwing.

Well that's it for Monday. Have a great week and we'll see you on Thursday with some shots of what's going on in the studio this week.