Recent Outings

The past few days have actually been very interesting, though I've been so busy trying to finish building all my pieces that I haven't taken time to share.

This weekend, a former resident was here to fire a kiln. She lives in Japan now, and teaches English, and still comes back to Shigaraki when she can. What a nice arrangement! On Friday night, a big group went out to dinner with her, which was quite fun. We went to a local restaurant that mostly serves what can only be described as fried foods on a stick. In theory, not so appealing, but in reality, it was all quite tasty, if not a bit excessive. They served such a variety: asparagus wrapped in bacon, shrimp and scallions, little green chili peppers, cheese, prawn, mushrooms, little sausages... It was delicious, not too greasy, but by the end of the meal, much too filling.

The little frogs for your sticks once you were done eating the fried food from them.


The happy diners.


The owners of the restaurant, and their daughter.

The next day, Saturday, another resident, Yuji, had a gallery opening in Kyoto, so most of us were planning to go. Some went early to spend time in Kyoto, some took a later bus, some waited until the last minute in order to get more work done. I was part of that last group, though "last minute" actually means catching the 4:36 bus in order to arrive at the opening at 6. Kyoto may be close, but it takes some doing to get there. Nel and Antra were my travel companions, and the hour-long bus ride passed quickly while we talked. Then a train, and a taxi from Kyoto station to the gallery, and we arrived. The gallery was very nice - it might have been a converted Japanese-style house, with tatami rooms and a beautiful garden. There were two exhibits at the time, Yuji's, and that of a South American metal worker who had lived in Japan for 20 years or so. Nearly everyone was in the rooms with Yuji's work. We were given glasses of champagne when we arrived, and a low table was in the middle of one room, with a variety of sushi, bread, and other little bits to eat. They were using dishes Yuji had made to serve some of the food, and one of his panels was on the table, covered by glass and then by food. Pieces of his work were on shelves, walls, floors, and the largest display of nearly human-height pillars was in the garden. The Japanese style to the rooms were a perfect setting, since his work has a subtle traditional flavor to it. It is rather rough with complex surfaces, but at the same time, mostly simple forms.

Enjoying the company, the artwork, and of course, the food.


Standing pieces in a rather traditional setting.


Tiny, delicate pieces on tiny glass shelves.


Impressive sculptures in the garden.

As if all that was not enough excitment, on Monday morning I got a call from Minori saying a visit had been arranged, and would like to go with some of the other residents to see a local potter who was firing his kiln? Of course I would! I think most of us ended up going. I did not catch his name, but he was a Shigaraki potter with a studio and kilns at his home (a large and beautiful complex, I might add). From what I gathered, the design of the kiln he was firing was based on research done in China at the old kiln sights, and only within the last 10 years or so had he really been able to control it to his liking. It was a wood-fired kiln with two chambers, and the lower chamber was brought up to temperature, then the higher chamber would be fired up to temperature the next day. In this particular kiln he was trying to achieve the "hiiro" color - literally translated it is "fire color," brilliant shades of oranges and reds, fading to white in places. He also had a noborigama which he uses for glazed pieces. When we arrived, they (the potter, and I believe it was his daughter) were still stoking the first chamber, but it was nearly to temperature (they would go to about 1300 degrees Celsius). We also could peek into his studio, and we were allowed to go into one of the rooms to look at some of his finsihed work, where we met the "old master" - presumably his father. It was a great experience, and so nice to see firsthand some of the techniques used here.

Explaining some of the process for Minori to translate for us.


Adding more wood.


A great example of the hiiro coloring.


The noborigama, which was right next to the other kiln. It looked to have 3 chambers.


The studio building, which I think was also connected to the house. I also heard he has a tea house, as well.


He seems to make everything from large thrown pots to tiny little hina figures for the Girls' Day celebration.


A bit of the studio space.


Very nice display of decorative garden pieces.


I was particularly fond of the simple, natural glaze on these teacups.


Some of the master's work.


A pond in part of the garden... The orange spot in the water is one of the largest and most beautiful koi I've ever seen, but the water was too murky to get a good photo.


And of course, everyone had to play with his adorable and friendly little dachshund!

Relief!

The bisque was a success, and I've finished building all of my pieces. What a relief... Everything is going so well. I'm getting anxious now to learn about the glazes they have here, and to try out the raku kiln. I've heard it's an oil drip kiln, which I'm not familiar with, plus, Japanese techniques for raku are different... So, I have a lot to learn, and I'm sure it will be very exciting. Hopefully there will be someone here tomorrow who can tell me all about the glazes, and then in a couple of days I'll be able to fire for the first time!

Here's a picture of the finished bisque:

I'll post some pictures of the new pieces soon. They are all drying now, and a few more pieces have been bisqued now, too. It's so nice to have them all done, but I know I'm going to miss building. This is a wonderful place to work, and I like my little area in the studio. However, it is nice to have a little more free time for a few days. The weather has been beautiful for the last couple of weeks - occasional rain, but very pleasant, not as hot. You can feel the beginnings of fall in the air, and just a few leaves are starting to change. It's so lovely to be outside, to walk around the Togei no Mori grounds, to ride a bicycle to the store, or even around the town with no particular destination. Twice before I've been in Japan in the summer, so it's nice this time to get a taste of fall. However... I'm also extremely glad to be leaving before the weather actually turns cold...

... and Blending

I should probably explain, if I haven't yet - raku in Japan comes in two basic forms - red, and black. There's an earlier post with pictures of work from the raku workshop, which shows samples of each if you want to see. Or of course you can wait until I fire next week! The red style comes from the color of the clay, which is actually more of a yellow color prior to firing, and somewhat more orange after firing. It is used with a sometimes milky but mostly clear crackle glaze. The black is actually built with a white clay, then covered with a glossy black glaze. Prior to firing, the white clay actually looks rather gray.

Most of the pieces I've been creating have been built using either the red or the white clay, sometimes with both clays in the same piece, as you may have noticed from the pictures. So far, I've been keeping the two clays separate - even if I use them within the same piece, I'll use one color for one vessel, another color for the other vessel. For those, I am planning to use the traditional glazes, so one vessel will be black, the other red. However, using these two clays together also gave me another idea. I've seen some ceramic work here in Japan that utilizes different colored clays kneeded together and then thrown, so the finished piece has swirls of different colors. Usually I've seen this on teapots, or teacups, or the like. For awhile I have thought of trying something like that, but colored clays are generally expensive because the materials used as colorants are expensive, plus I don't throw as often anymore. However, that did get me to think about further integrating these two raku clays. The crackle glaze used here would probably look good on the white clay (very similar to what I do in America, I think) or even the green clay, for that matter. So, on one particular piece I'm currently working on, I've intentionally let the red and white clays blend between the two vessels, and I'm planning to use the crackle glaze on the whole piece. I think it should be an interesting effect. Here is how it looks so far:

I coil build all of my current work, adding a coil of clay one layer at a time and then blending it down into the already existing pot wall. So, when I am building two connected vessels with different clays, I usually coil each one up separately, without blending the clays except where they meet. This time, though, I intentionally made the coils long enough that they would occasionally overlap onto the other vessel. The process of blending the layers together and then smoothing them out caused some really interesting patterns... I am quite anxious to see how this one turns out!

Bisquing and Building

Today Antra and I are bisque firing some of our work together, with some help from Aedan... You see, I've never bisqued in a gas kiln before, and this kiln isn't like the ones Antra usually uses, either. Give me an electric kiln, I'd have no problems, whether it's an old one like mine that uses Orton cones, or a newer one where you can electronically program every step of the firing. Gas is a different story, so I'm glad to have the company and the help, even though it's not actually that difficult. So today is back and forth, back and forth, checking the temperature every half our or so, building a little more, checking again, build more, check... It breaks up the day nicely, but perhaps a little too much. It's been difficult to really get settled into the pieces I'm working on today.

As for what I'm working on...
I decided yesterday that maybe completing 9 out of my 10 original ideas would be sufficient. There is this one piece I just can't get excited about making, so I think maybe I should let the idea simmer awhile longer before I use it. Besides that, a few days ago I had a new idea, so one of the smaller pieces I made suddenly became more interesting, and I added quite a bit to it. Here is the picture:

The middle piece is the only one I was intending to make at first. And I'm still debating over the smaller piece, whether I should use this one or a different (but similar) one.

So, all 9 pieces are well on their way now, either drying or bisquing or halfway built. It's exciting to know I'll finally raku soon, but sad to realize I only have a couple more days to build if everything is going to be dry in time. I have to say, I'm really enjoying the work I'm doing here. I like making these little vignettes, using more than one vessel to express a more complex idea, rather than just making cute little Emergelings all the time. These new pieces are much more expressive, and feel more like they ought to be displayed in a gallery, rather than sold at an art fair. I'm glad to have that balance. I've enjoyed the art fairs, I certainly have every intention of continuing to do them... But I am also glad to also be making some things which, I feel, have the potential to fill out a different aspect of my career.

Two Weeks?

It is hard to believe my time here is nearly halfway gone already. I feel like I've done so much, but at the same time, there is so much more I would do if I had more time. Most people stay here for about 3 months rather than just one, and I'm glad that I make relatively small pieces and use a relatively fast firing process. It would be nearly impossible to undertake a larger project in so little time, but for me, this is sufficient. For now! I'm already anxious to find new places to visit and work, and possibly to return here someday.

I'm still building new pieces this week, but I will probably be done with all that by Saturday or Sunday at the latest, to make sure everything has time to dry, then be bisqued, glazed, and fired. I actually might run my first bisque tomorrow, but there is some question about who needs to use which kiln and when, and rather I should bisque all my different clays at the same temperature. Japanese raku is fired at a much lower temperature than American raku... but the Japanese process itself and the differences between the two processes deserve their own post, later.

For now, back to work...

5 and counting...

I have 5 pieces done, drying, and soon ready to bisque. I now think that planning to make around 10 was not at all too ambitious, especially considering that I've already started 2 more of the main pieces, and I have about 5 little Emergelings in various stages of production that I will of course be test firing before any of the bigger ones go anywhere near the raku kiln.

As far as I know, I will be bisque firing with a couple of other people on either the 21st, 24th, 27th, or some combination of those dates, and rakuing whenever I please after that. It is perhaps worthy of noting that if you are going to be here for a relatively short stay (1 month, perhaps?) that, though the staff may not mention it, you ought to get yourself on the kiln schedule as quickly as possible. It's an amazingly busy place.

Anyway, thought you all might like a preview. I already have names and glazes picked out for these, but I did just say this was only a preview... Comments, thoughts, suggestions, etc. would of course be appreciated!