Suzuki Goro

Suzuki Goro Chawan

His career started way back in his teens when he would only get about three hours of sleep each night because he wanted to practice on the wheel. His goal: to make 1,000 yunomi (tea cups) in one day. Only then, he felt, could one be called a craftsman. He had a stopwatch next to the wheel and after three years of practice got to the point where he could make a yunomi in 30 seconds! He reached the 1,000 mark and surpassed it, finally resting after making 1,250 yunomi in 10 hours. The man was on a clay mission.

He's since moved on to other forms, focusing his ceramic vision on Momoyama-inspired Mino wares which include Shino, Oribe, Setoguro, and Ki-Seto. Yet instead of making boring copies of the masterpieces, Suzuki has allowed himself, after years of discipline, a little freedom and, very importantly, a playful spirit (asobi-gokoro). He also has a feel for clay in his bones and listens quite well to the voices of the many different clays he uses.

Tokyo boasts a permanent display of Suzuki's work at Gallery Goro, which is, I think, the only gallery in Japan devoted to a single ceramic artist. Gallery Goro is a one-minute walk from the south exit of Okubo Station on the Sobu Line; open 12 p.m.-7 p.m. (closed Sunday, Monday and Thursday). For information, call (03) 5386-5056, or see the gallery's Japanese-language Web site at www.g-goro.com

From Robert Yellin E-YakiMono.net

For More Works: Vessels.jp

Peter Voulkos

Peter Voulkos Tea Bowl

From the earliest work out of Montana to the monumental late sculpture, Peter Voulkos (1924-2002) established himself as the leader of a revolution in ceramics. In her obituary for The New York Times, Roberta Smith wrote:

“Firmly grounded as a craftsman, Mr.Voulkos went on to reinvent ceramics as a meeting ground for painting and sculpture. During his 50-year career Mr. Voulkos was influential as a thinker, teacher and fearless innovator who followed a constantly changing course.”

For More Works: Frank Lloyd Gallery and Peter Voulkos

Daum Museum

Tomio Suzuki

Tomio Suzuki Aka-Shino Green Tea Chawan


"Making shino requires the same deductive reasoning that detectives use to solve a mystery. They eliminate variables one-by-one until they find the answer. For me, it's the same. I'll try a new method, fail, and try another until I've found one that works."
That's how Kyoto potter Tomio Suzuki describes the challenge of his work. "Shino", the name for the technique Mr. Suzuki works in, originated 450 years ago in Japan during the Momoyama Era. It is characterized by a simple glaze (pure feldspar and water) which is allowed to run down and crackle around the clay body.

Mr. Suzuki works primarily in three types of glazes: nezumi, aka, and a "basic" shino. The difference between them lies in the use of a red iron oxide-rich coloring agent (called onita) found in certain riverbed sediments in Japan. The gray color of nezumi shino (literally "mouse shino") forms when a white feldspar overglaze reacts with an underlying slip of onita.

The rust-red color of aka shino (left) is produced by mixing large amounts of the same coloring agent directly into the glaze. Conversely, the pink and orange hues found in Mr. Suzuki's basic shino (lower left) form without the use of a coloring agent and depend, instead, upon changing temperatures within the kiln.

The clay that is used is equally important. Called mogusa-tsuchi, this clay from Gifu Prefecture is unique in that it becomes light-textured and porous after long firings - a quality that is necessary in order for the glaze to shrink just tightly enough for the cracks and pinholes to develop.

For More Works: 2000 Cranes

Shino Pottery

The first Shino glaze was developed in Japan during the Momoyama period (1568-1600), in kilns in the Mino and Seto areas. The glaze, composed primarily of ground local feldspar and a small amount of local clay, produced a satiny white color. It was the first white glaze used in Japanese ceramics. Wares decorated with Shino were fired in the Ogama kilns used at that time. Ogama kilns were single-chambered kilns made from a trench in a hillside that was covered with an earthen roof. As the Ogama kilns were replaced by the multi-chambered Anagama kilns during the first decade of the 17th century, Shino was supplanted by the oribe glazes used in the newer kilns. Shino enjoyed a brief revival in the 19th century, but then faded into obscurity.
In the 1930s and 1940s, two Japanese potters, Toyozo Arakawa and Hajime Kato, developed the first modern Shino glaze by studying Monoyama Shino pots. Working independently, in 1974 Virginia Wirt, a student of Warren MacKenzie at the University of Minnesota, developed a glaze formula that also sought to imitate the historical exemplars. Her glaze, which added soda ash and spodumene to the base of feldspar and clays, was the first American Shino.
Shino has since become one of the more popular glazes in American pottery studios. Many variations have spawned from Wirt’s original formula. Although many different colorants and fluxes can be added, creating a wide range of effects, Shino glazes in America are all characterized by the use of soda ash and by a high ratio of alumina to silica. Under certain firing conditions, the soda ash causes carbon to be trapped in the glaze, creating the characteristic grey spots or patches on the glaze surface.
There is also a class of Shino glazes, called Crawling Shinos, which are intentionally formulated to exhibit a glaze defect know as crawling. These Shinos form small, regular spots of bare clay all over the surface of the pot, some going so far as to cause the glaze to bead up on the surface of the clay.
The origin of the term Shino is uncertain. It may be derived from “shiro” the Japanese word for “white.” Or it may refer to the tea master Shino Soshin (1444-1523). Kuroda and Murayama[2] refer to a text by Kanamori Tokusiu (1857) which states;
"Shino Soshin had a favorite white-glazed, 'shoe-shaped' bowl, imported from South Asia, which he used as a teabowl."[3]

Shino glaze

Shibuya Deishi

Oni-Hagi Chawan by Shibuya Deishi

I have one on his Oni-Hagi Winter Tea Bowls

It is one of my favorites, with a similar straw-ash glaze

Shibuya Deishi is one of the “elder statesmen” of the Hagi pottery tradition, being the Chairman of the Hagi Traditional Industrial (Handicrafts) Association for the last 20 years.

It is thought that the Oni–Hagi style is a representation of cherry trees in blossom and, although demons are thought of as something evil in the West, they are looked on as a useful ally to have in Japan, hence the name Oni.

Deishi, who works in Hagi City, throws all of chawan and yunomis using a Korean style kick wheel and these are then fired in his traditional wood-fired climbing kiln for many days. He have won many prizes for his work over the years, including the International Art Culture award in 1984 and continues to produce work to the high standard that he has set himself to this day.

For More Works: Studio-Pots  and MagoKorodo

Haku Maki

Title: Wan 14

Year:1990

Medium: Woodblock Print with embossing

Title: Collection 1

Year:1977

Medium: Woodblock Print with embossing

MAKI, Haku

Born: 1924 in Ibaragi Prefecture, died in 2000
Medium: Wood and Cement Block Relief

Maki was a versatile artist who often combined several techniques. He was first known for the use of Chinese characters or kanji. Starting with the original pictograph, he stylized the calligraphy into a bold statement, with an eye for its beauty and compositional possibilities. Maki often used cement on his woodblocks, which can be worked, when wet, into intriguing textures for embossing.

Later in his career, Maki shifted his focus to smaller works, with persimmons and other fruit, or ceramic teacups, bowls and bottles as the predominant themes. He still used the cement block technique allowing rich textural effects, creating a three-dimensional appearance.

In each of his nearly 2000 different prints, this modern Japanese master offers a very focused view of his subject. Backgrounds are of minor importance, and the subject dominates, whether kanji, persimmon, or ceramic.

He is one of the ten artists chosen for James Michener’s 1968 book, The Modern Japanese Print-- An Appreciation, and provided illustrations for Noah Brannen and William Elliott’s book, Festive Wine, a translation of ancient Japanese poems. In June 2007, Dan Tretiak published The Life and Works of Haku Maki examining his artistic themes over a long and distinguished career. This book was launched in conjunction with a special exhibit of 85 different Maki prints from all periods, held at the Ren Brown Collection in Bodega Bay. This outstanding book is now the authoritive source of information on Haku Maki.

Recent Acquisition - Scott Parady Ceramic Pottery

A Tea bowl and Ewer by Scott Parady

Purchased from Trax Gallery - Berkeley

Scott Parady is a functional cermacist highly respected for his ability to work from a range of small vessels to extremely large vessels. His work exudes a zen like quality of purity. His pots are chunky with earth materials such as shells, rocks, sand, and stones derived from the earths naturally occuring clay beds. His pieces represent him by appearing simple, yet in fact, they quietly reveal their depth. New treasures continue to appear as you own the piece. He built his Pope Valley anagama kiln, where he wood fires not only his own work but other artists as well. He is currrently a professor of ceramics at Sacramento State University. He recieved a B.A. from Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri. He recieved his M.A. from Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania. He has had many exhibitions from 1993-2005, and is continously progressing as an artist.

For More Works: Trax Gallery and Wood Fired Ceramics