faceted flower vase, Tsujimura Shirō

Teaching Gallery Label: "The Tea Ceremony," Apr-2014, Kris Imants Ercums A recreation of Iga yaki, a high-fired ware favored by tea masters during the Momoyama period (1568-1615), this flower vase is a solid block of Shigaraki clay that has been carved and sliced by a long fish knife. The amazing play of texture and color in the glaze is the result of a highly volatile process involving ash and an oxygen-starved atmosphere in the kiln. Tsujimura, who is quoted as saying “it is in the last fifteen or so minutes of the firing that I win or lose,” seems to thrive on the unpredictable outcome of this process. Exhibition Label: "Nature/Natural," Feb-2011, Kris Ercums A recreation of Iga, an unglazed, high-fired ware favored by tea masters during the Momoyama period (1568-1615), this flower vase is a solid block of Shigaraki clay that has been carved and sliced by a long fish knife. The amazing play of texture and color in the glaze is a result of a highly volatile process involving ash and an oxygen-starved atmosphere in the kiln. Tsujimura, who is quoted as saying “it is in the last 15 or so minutes of the firing that I win or lose,” seems to thrive on the unpredictable outcome of this process. Exhibition Label: "Japan Re-imagined/Post-war Art," Mar-2008, Kris Ercums A recreation of Iga, an unglazed, high-fired ware favored by tea masters during the Momoyama period (1568-1615), this flower vase is a solid block of Shigaraki clay that has been carved and sliced by a long fish knife. The amazing play of texture and color in the glaze is a result of a highly volatile process involving ash and an oxygen starved atmosphere in the kiln. Tsujimura, who is quoted as saying “it is in the last 15 or so minutes of the firing that I win or lose,” seems to thrive on the unpredictable outcome of this process. Exhibition Label: "Contemporary Ceramics East and West," Feb-2002, Susan Earle, Mary M. Dusenbury Iga Mentori Vase is made from the textured clay used traditionally for utilitarian wares from Iga and Shigaraki. Feldspar and other impurities in the clay result in the interesting and highly textured surfaces seen in this work. Tsujimura uses a natural ash glaze. During firing, ashes falling at random on the surface of the vessel, create the colors and smooth, glassy surfaces seen here. The roughness of the clay also leads to kiln accidents-like the crack on the side of this vessel. Someone has called the crack on the vessel “a gift from the kiln god”. In this work, Tsujimura is more experimental than in the earlier Storage Pot, also in this exhibition. Here he plays freely with the potential of clay and ash to create a highly textured cylindrical form that is an apparently careless yet carefully choreographed synthesis of artistic vision and kiln accident.