Ceramics and Pottery Arts and Resources

 

 

 

Kumakura Junkichi

 

 

Clay dimensions and Zen

One of the underlying traditions that permeates life in Japan, arising from their culture and Zen Buddhist/Shinto influences is mindfulness, contemplation and a deep respect for nature and its rhythms. Objects in the process of decay or conception are considered to be more evocative then in full bloom because they reinforce the sense of transience. This is encapsulated by the deliberate attention given to oppositional forces, created for example, between contrasting textures (rough to smooth) and asymmetrical forms, to allude to the dynamic of the incomplete. The drawing of the enso circle in training, which is never shown as closed or complete, is a reminder of this aspect.

 

 

The distinctive Japanese aesthetic speaks from within and is reflected in their art by the expression of several qualities including kanso (asymmetry), fukinsei (simplicity) and koko (basic). Furthermore, the quality of shizen (keeping it natural, spontaneous and without pretence) is consistently expressed along with the recognition of the nature of Kami, which relates to the ‘spiritual essence’ and ‘spirit’ that inhabits all animate and inanimate forms.

Further enhancement is also achieved through these following aspects: Yugen — subtleness and not obvious, Datsuzoku — unfettered by convention and Seijaku — solitude, stillness and tranquillity. The concept of Shibusa also considers similar qualities – simple, subtle, emptiness and unobtrusive beauty (understated).

Artistic transcendence usually nurtures an innate awareness of these traditional subtleties. How much of these cultural perceptions filter into the consciousness of the Japanese artist and are executed is hard to fathom and correlate but there is an obvious, subtle, tangible presence pervading most of their art. The nature-centric shinto also celebrates the landscape and the wholeness of creation and has over 100,000 shrines and around 79,000 priests, so its input would be plausible.
Assembled here is a collection of Japanese pottery that has caught my attention over the past 12 months, displaying their refined aesthetic, skilled craftsmanship, reverence for the ceramic arts and Zen empathy that characterises the contemporary clayarts of Japan.

 

 

The Japanese sculptor Sayaka Ganz clasims he was strongly influenced by the Shinto beliefs that all objects have a soul when he created these horse sculptures.

 

 

Shinya Tanoue

 

 

Yuh Okada— Faceted Jar

 

 

Kakurezaki Ryuichi bizen vase

 

 

Black and white Japanese tea bowl from the Edo period

 

 

Yukiya Izumita ceramic sculpture

 

 

 

Takeshi Matsuzaki shino yunomi cup.

The above note in Japanese was displayed with the cup. The translation was a kinda zen way of of describing walking.

 

 

Stoneware bottle with the nuka oatmeal glaze over black slip accents, top and bottom and iron and black glaze accents –Craig Bird

‘Less means more’ by Craig Bird (I,Potter)

How is it possible to strip away the unwanted encumbrances, additions, distractions, to do away with all the superfluous that can weigh down an object? There is a palpable complexity to simplicity and in its creation, it is never born from over thought, conscious action, rather it springs from a disciplined and well practiced extension of years of unconscious repetition earned over decades of “doing”. A simple object exudes a clarity of idea and purpose since there is nothing to clutter the direct intent of its function in a classic example of “less means more”. As a potter, I know I can be guilty of “more means more” and though I won’t blame our modern times for that stern indoctrination, it is not a simple thing to work consciously in an unconscious manner, for most of us, it goes against our accumulated experiences. It might be this fact alone that makes the creation of simple, honest pots both so difficult and so greatly admired, because quite frankly, simple is just awfully hard.

 

 

 Wada Morihiro — Black-glazed teabowl with red and olive-green slip glaze patterning and impressed surface

 

 

Torso-shaped vase with thin neck and green, black, brown matte patterned decoration–Wada Morihari

1992

 

Large Tsubo Vase – Shimizu Yasutaka

 

 

Oribe drip glaze vessel with lid and tea bowl — Takahiro Ishii

 

 

Ryo Suzuki

Square vase with white glaze and trailed black glaze decoration

Gallery Japan

 

 

Tsuji Shindo — ‘Momuntain Man’

1957

Mondo Bloggo

 

 

Yagi Kazuo ovoid ceramic sculpture

Japan

 

 

Yagi Kazuo

Joan Mirviss Gallery

 

Bowl with line design in colored slip painting. — Mieko Kono

Gallery Japan

 

Yagi Kazuo

Mirviss Gallery

 

 

Yasuhisa Kohyama—Japan Art Galerie

 

 

Shoji Hamada – footed vase

 

 

 

Shoji Hamada-footed tea bowl

 

 

 

Jun Matsuo — Unglazed high fired jar with fire marks

 

 

 

Jun Matsuo

 

 

 

 

Tomimoto Kenkichi — ceramic faceted gourd vessel with long neck

Mirviss

 

 

Shinya Tagami yunomi cup

 

 

 

Tea bowl with sugarcane design in black iron glaze by Shoji Hamada

Mashiko, Japan — 1955

 

 

 

Shigaraki Vase — Honiwa Rakunyu

Modern Japanese Ceramics

 

 

Shimizu Takeshi lidded vessel

 

 

Ryuun Bottle Vase by Yasuda Zenko

 

 

 

Inoue Toya Karatsu bottle vase

 

 

Suzuki Taku —- lustre glaze vessel

 

 

Suzuki Tomio chawan

 

Tokkuri ceramic flask and ochoko cup – Tamiya Shinya

 

 

Ryota Shibata lidded incense burner

 

 

Ogawa Noriyuki – ‘Reincarnation’ cup

 

 

Nobuoka Nakaoka—Gradient coloured ash tea bowl

 

 

Nishihata Tadashi – Tamba Clay lidded vessel

 

 

Kitamura Tsuruyo – ‘Eternal Sea’ —Lesley Kehoe Gallery

 

 

Nishihata Tadashi — carved ceramic vase

 

 

Yahichida Oribe Tea Bowl by Katsunori Sawa

Trax Gallery, Berkeley

 

 

Nanako Kaji sculptural vessels

 

 

Nakano Yasumi ikebana display

 

 

 

Nakamura Takuo abstract ceramic sculpture

William Bayer Collection

 

 

Nakamura-Hirotomo–contemporary metal sculpture

 

 

Nakaigawa Yuki. combed and incised ceramic sculptures

Joan B. Mirviss, Ltd

 

 

Moriyoshi Saeki Zogan vase

Gallery Japan

 

 

Morino Taimei – Contemporary Bottle Form Vase

 

 

Modern Shino Tsubo by Ando Hidetake

 

 

Mihara Ken raku sculpture

 

 

Mentori Tokkuri Faceted Sake Bottle

 

 

Manabe Shizu Ryo abstract panel ceramic teapot

 

 

Lee Kang-tak — chawan

 

 

Large Shino Tsubo by Hayashi Shotaro

Modern Japanese Ceramics

 

 

Large contemporary pottery Wash Basin by Ichino Masahiko

 

 

Kawai Kanjiro — Three Color Bottle Vase

1965

 

 

Ken Matsuzaki, Square vase

–hidasuki technique, stoneware, 10x5zx5 inches

 

 

Kato Ichiro –  cloth texture and colors ceramic vase

Kaki Tsuto gallery

 

 

Kawai Kanjiro- stoneware oribe footed vase

 

 

C-Masanao – abstract vase

 

 

Kaneta Masanao yunomi

 

Kakurazaki Ryuichi lidded jar – exceptional spontaneity in the construct curves

 

 

Jehni Ashanti- elegant shape, sawdust firing

 

 

 

Kan Sato – Ovoid jar with white slip and connected ridge design

 Minimalist motif with classic use of space and adaption to shape

 

 

Hayato Sawada tapered square vase

Gallery Japan

 

 

Faceted globulous jar with pearly lustre – Hiroshi Nakada

 

 

Contemporary Shino Vase Set by Wakao Toshisada–sculpture art vase

 

 

 

Huge Contemporary Shino Sculptural Vase by Hayashi Shotaro

 

 

Hiroyuki-Kobayashi yunomi cup

 

 

Hakuhoyu Koro (Incense Burner with Grapevine Branch-ash glaze) – Shigeo Takemura

 

 

Covered jar with a geometrical pattern Yukifumi Tada

GALLERY JAPAN Japanese traditional art crafts

 

 

Large contemporary Vase by Hiraga Taeko

 

 

Wada Morihiro stoneware teapot

 

 

Contemporary Japanese Vase by Hiraga Taeko

 

 

Japanese Iga Vase – Atarashi Kanji

Modern Japanese Ceramics

 

 

Vintage Shinsha Vase by Yamazaki Koyo

 

 

Vase by Sui Kiichi (Suzuki Mata Kazu)

 

 

Black bowl with white earthen glaze –  Ushio Shimizu

GALLERY JAPAN

 

 

Bizen jar with irregular shape. – Ryuichi Kakurezaki

 

 

 

Asymmetrical sculpted vessel — Yagi Kazuo

1970

 

 

Bizen highlights flower vessel with wide mouth.– Ryuichi Kakurezaki

 

 

Akira Satake Chawan