Tobe: the Real Deal

Two weeks ago Stephanie and I took her friend Sarah to Tobe Yaki. Tobe, like Bizen, is a traditional Japanese pottery center. Tobe's style couldn't be more different than the dark reds, bronzes, and gold browns of Bizen's climbing kilns, but the feel is largely the same. Almost every home has some little ceramic detail, and every garage, livingroom, or back yard has some type pottery studio, collection of slip molds, or even a small kiln shed in the back yard. IT WAS GLORIOUS to see.

Simply the idea of an artistic community dedicated to preserving, promoting, and simutaniously modernizing local pottery traditions is like stepping into my dream list of job titles and making them materialize before my eyes. The Tobe Culture Center has a fantastic show room that takes you through the early traditions of the pottery, and also showcases the way the various artists and families of potters have changed the traditional forms and had fun with the glazes. Tobe is most well known for its navey blue brush work on white clay, but as you can see there are many takes on this old standard.

We got a chance to try our hand at painting a pot of our choosing. My brushwork clearly needs work, but I think Steph is a natural! It was great fun, and I'd return in a heart beat to show just about anyone this little treasure of ceramic culture.

Here are a few of the more contemporary designes we saw at the cultural center. There was a huge (very cool) store where you could buy work, but photos were prohibited.

I have some peices in a local christmas market in Kochi City. If you're in Japan and have just been itching for one of my pots then this would be a good chance. Yamma Neko gallery is a great place.

Mr. Leach even made time to stop in. It's always such a pleasure to see his work.

All this typing about pottery has me itching to get into the studio and get back into the making cycle. I saw some really fantastic slab work in Tobe and have been thinking about trying my hand at it since. I'm off to create something, you should do the same!

Recalibrate

After loading a small test batch of work into the newly repaired kiln I punched in the firing cycle and waited to see how the freshly refinished Kiln Gods would treat me.

The outcome is a mixed bag of over exposed and passable results. The kiln's programed cycles all were wiped durring the repair, and I must not have quite gotten the down fire temperatures right for this firing. Some adjustments are in order, but we'll get it sorted.

I'm particularly happy with the sculptural form I'd been working on for some time. It's one of the biggest peices I've ever done.



These little ochoko were really fun. At the end of the day, I'm jus texstatic to be back in buisness. The kiln is finally filled with the tiles from the workshop I ran back in October. As the weather turns my mind shifts to how to keep my hands warm in the studio, and what forms I most want to work on for the comming months. In January over half the school goes on class trips for about 3 weeks, and I will have more than ample time to get my hands really muddy.

If you just can't get enough of pottery and people talking about pottery, and you'd really like to see some fantastic surface treatments check out fetishghost (a fellow blogger user and great potter). Until next time keep creating! 

Follow Up

The school is like a came. The halls are dark, and the thick cement walls hold the night's cold far longer than one would think. Fall's colors are all scattered across the hills and it's dark by 5:30 if your lucky now. It seems like winter came almost without any sense of Fall at all. Perhaps two weeks at best, but that's ok by me. Winter here is quite mild, and though the homes are not so well heated or insulated it means more hot beverages and soups. I'd take being cold over being hot any day.

I wanted to follow up on my post about the young potters I saw in Tobe with a few pictures of the more traditional Tobe Yaki look.

There is a lovely little hand made gallery just down the street from my apartment where I try to stop in once every month or so just to check what pottery and laquer ware turns up, and this month they had a real surplus of new potters. The two folks from tobe above, and a new Kochi potter. All I was able to understand from the store owner's description is that the potter was a woman who lived about 20 minutes away in Tosa and that she built everything by hand without the use of a wheel. I really love the glaze on the first tea bowl pictured.

Hoping to return to posting every Monday and Thursday now that the kiln in back on line. We'll see you soon everyone. Go CREATE!

Dream Walks and Fixed Kilns

Step by step in the quiet rain I head for temples hidden amoungst the hustle of one of Shikoku's biggest cities. Two weeks ago Steph and I checked off Matsuyama from our 88 temple trek. Along the way we stayed at the always fantastic Sen Guesthouse (seriously if you travel through Matsuyama do yourself a favor and stay there!). While there, I got to conversing with the owner about local potters. Matsuyama is home to Tobe Yaki, a place which I am sadly very under educated at the moment. The work that I associate with Tobe Yaki (as I knew it) is traditionaly a white clay body with blue designs painted under a clear glossy glaze. The owners at the Sen guest house assured me that that may be the traditional imagery, but that there is some really creative and absolutely fantastic contemporary ceramics comming out of Tobe.  

 This is a pot from Asato Ikeda, and I am absolutely in love with his forms. They're loaded with motion and energy. Appearantly the folks and Sen Guesthouse are friends of his and work to help him publisize his ceramics from time to time. I'd love to pic this guys brain, and watch his process for creating such movement within the clay. 

As some of you may know my other obsession in life is tiny houses, and I saw this little beauty cruzing down the road on the way to the Kochi Air Port for a business trip to Tokyo. Similarly to my desire to pic the brains of Tobe's youthful potters I would LOVE to spend an afternoon exploring the construction of this little movable cabin. I doubt it is used for camping or dwelling. It is owned by a bakery, but I am willing to bet it could be repurposed to be dweld within. If you asked me why I love tiny houses I don't think I could adiquately articulate my feelings in a clear enough mannor. The biggest appeal of them is that they seem doable! I have always wanted to build my own home, but have absolutely no knowledge of carpentry, construction, and only the very basest of handymanery. Constructing something tiny is a way to get around the daunting challenge of learning all of that full scale. They are also significantly easier to heat, own, make energy efficient, and leave less of an imprint on the world that surrounds us. I could go on for days about hwo freak'n cool tiny structers are and how much I want to make pottery in one, but I won't . . . because that isn't what you're here for.

You're here because you're my friend, and you are curious about my ceramics and life. Now we come to the news that you and I have been waiting for, for weeks and weeks. The kiln repair is complete! There is a bisque firing happening as we speak and Yamatogi Sensei assures me that I can do a glaze firing this weekend if all goes well. Extatic does not do my feelings justice. I have a load of my own work (mostly ochoko and a few tea bowls) to fire, and probably at least a load of tiles from the workshop I did last month during my exhibition.

Thanks for reading! If you get a chance go check out Asato's work. Keep creating.

Broke Down Blues

The mornings are quickly transitioning from cool to cold. Before I have time to blink it will be winter again, and my hands will be struggling to center in the cold of the studio. November is the busiest time of year. Speech contests for my students kick into full gear, my yearly volunteer course begins, and preparations for winter travels.

I have hit a rock and a hard place. Just before the show in Susaki City the kiln broke down. I was expecting the repair to be somewhat expedient, however my hopes have proven futile. Yamatogi Sensei assures me that the peice in need ot repairs has been shipped, and now we are just in a waiting game. This waiting. . . constantly not knowing when you'll be back in the flow of create, bisque, glaze, and fire is disheartaning. I've had little drive to go create in the studio because I've no garantees I'll be able to complete the works. I still am carving on pots, and tryign to keep my skills at least mildly sharpened.

I doodle frequently. . . in bright colors, and in rarely planned out patterns. They are studies in bordom and color. Like gesture drawings, they're done hastlily and meant more to capture the fleeting feeling of a moment rather than anything else. I would love to find the correct materials to allow me to doodle on the surfaces of my pots, but currently I do not have glazes like that at my disposal.

The maze.

Typhoon Friday

I'm veyr hopeful that we'll be back in business soon, and that I can return to work in full confidence that the work I'm doing will actually come to completion.

Untill then I'll keep the creative juices flowing however I can, and you should do the same!

Stuck in over-DRIVE

Today I'll walk the 20 minutes it takes to wind my way from my school to the Gallery where my work is. The walk will have my eyes right in the sun as it begins it's descent toward the mountains that encircle the horizon. I'll wind my way through Susaki propper. I'll pass the tiny hill top temple just after the only nice bike shop in town, and the famous soya(sho-yu) sauce business that all the city tourism pamphlets foucs on. I'll pass the post office, 4 run down houses overflowing with weeds and litterbox stinks, and many windows that belong to stores I've never seen open. I'm already anticipating the sense of relief I know the space will bring.

 I havn't been able to spend nearly enough time here since the show started. On a rainy Saturday I met Tabe Sensei and her son for breakfast and we went to the show together.

 The building is just one block off the main road through town, and it affords it a quietness that I love. When a guest goes into the main room the gallery owners bring you a small cup of iced tea to enjoy as you explore the exhibit. I really loved spending time asking Tabe Sensei about her feedback on my exhibit. I miss having someone to bounce my ceramic ideas off at school. It was a great morning. Don't worry you faithful readers there will be more pictures of the exhibit to come shortly. This weekend I'll be hosting a one day workshop on tile carving and texturing. I'll also be photoing the exhibit to better showcase the space. I'm not looking forward to taking the exhibit down. There ended up being about 104 peices once everything was unwrapped and on the tables.

    The reasons I've not been able to soak in the gallery is because fall is always the most chaotic time for me as an English teacher. Speach contest has rolled around again, and I'm rehersing with a student every day after school (she's fantastic and excited about English. It is rare and wonderful!). I'll be starting my extra lessons with the older folks in my area at the local community center come November (they are always a blast, but it means extra lessons and loads of planning). There are also of course the ever present tests and papers to grade.

But the real pain has been studying for the Japanese Driving test. It's a wonderful strange process that has been ranted about far too many times in the history of internet I'm sure. If you're really curious about the multi colored insanity show that's pictured above and my exact thoughts on it, feel free to ask. I take the test tomorrow, and despite studying, and being a fairly compitant experienced driver, I've less than high hopes for my first Japan Driving Test experience. Who knows!

What I do know is I can't wait for the workshop on Saturday, or to get back in the studio once the kiln is repaired. I have a whole batch of new work that's ready to fire, and a new goal to work towards with my ceramics. Thanks for reading, and if you've time come on bye the show.

Go create something!

Flurry and Dust.

You're invited to come to: 

At the start of this long endevor I simply was craving exposure. I had 60 or 70 some peices gathering dust in my studio. My own collection of work rarely seen, and by anyone but you few internet friends. It was (has been) a supremely personal journey for the past 3 years into the world of pottery. The process of arranging and working towards a gallery show is so vastly different from the solotude of the studio I am so accustomed to when I make my works. Meeting the wonderful staff of the Machigato Gallery in Susaki, thinking over the best ways to instal my work in the gallery's space and "fill" it to a point that looks good, and then there is publicizing (which for me comes as the most difficult party). It is all wonderful, and new, and also very tiring.

 My extra time this week was eaten by preping works for transit to their new monthlong home. Hand wrapping each peice is an excellent time for self critique. My hands cradle each peice, and my fingers find the gritty imperfections that my eyes never reveal when I simply look at my collection. The learner's trials and happy accidents litter the surfaces of many of my works, and their lessons are greater for my growth than I could have hoped for.

Consequently, handling and wrapping each peice also kicked up quite a bit of duest which has rather unhappily settled itself in my nose. I sent 7 boxes packed full to the gallery on Monday, and will spend the greater part of tomorrow installing it all for the first time. I can't wait to see everyone's resonce to my work, and hope that you'll find the time to come and see it. I'm ever greatful for input and for your readership of my journey.

Before I go, I have been working on some new tiles for a tile workshop I'll be teaching on September 28th. Unfortunately the school's kiln's controle pannel and power switch have fallen victim to the extreem humidity here in Kochi. Yamatogi sensei assures me that it will be up and running again sometime in October, but for now that just means some of my peices will not be making it into my first show. It really jus tmeans I have more time to fill the kiln with more work for the next show!

Have a great day!
GO and make something!