mel jacobson on fri 5 sep 08
thanks ric for your great report on hang zhou.
joe koons is in hang zhou at the present time.
he loves the place...calls it the finest city in china.
he loves tea. in history, hang zhou was considered the
most people friendly place on earth. it is his eighth trip
to the region. he is on very friendly terms with the museum
and they love our pots. so...we are proud of that.
his take on the hare's fur tenmoku was that
it was basic kitchen ware for china. some was
exported, but most was domestic.
the royal families would get their share.
much of that was decorated and signed. the basic
ware of course was not signed...just bowls.
most monks carried the bowls to japan. they became,
according to many scholars...tea ceremony....
the shard piles of the those dragon kilns are immense.
some think there are millions and millions of shards.
what people thought were large bamboo covered hills are
really shard piles...yes, that big. japanese collectors have
mined those piles....that has been stopped...the present
government realizes the value of hare's fur.
when i was invited to the `national academy of science`
in shanghai i realized how much research has been done to
discover the `how` of that firing technique. i was able
to add a couple of pieces to the puzzle. i convinced them
that is was not a single glaze, but probably two or three.
a matt holding glaze, and a rich iron over glaze. that is how
i got it to work...and of course..cone 13/ox.
sagger pots do not always reduce...even in smoke and ash.
that is why i fired with a neutral to even oxidized atmosphere.
fired fast, and hot. oil spotting, partridge feather, a yellowish
mottled glaze was also produced. it was a huge variety.
not just hare's fur. depends on the chamber, the intensity
of heat, placement in the kiln. those sagger piles were five
feet tall. about 15 feet across. the many oil spot glazes that
were fired lead me believe in multiple glaze. once you start
to fire oil spot glazes...they just come to life. it is very simple.
(see the black/ huge oil spot bowl on my website...index page.)
joe koons has been a ferocious lover of the region...he has
spent his adult life in research about tenmoku and hare's fur.
there are few that know it like he does. the respect he has
among chinese scholars and chemists is great. he is one of
the finest friends i have made in my adult life. passion, knowledge
and a sense of awe. we need more of that. when you study
the old pots, it makes your new pots better. when you understand
the simplicity of early glazes, it makes so much sense. simple, found
ingredients, locally obtained. melted together. remember, those seat of
the pants chemist potters of a thousand years ago where smart
puppies. they understood the fire, glass, melt...they felt it.
it was business...their life.
mel
from minnetonka:
website http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart site:
http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
Kim Hohlmayer on mon 8 sep 08
Hi All,
I too found Hangzhow to be a wonderful and friendly spot. Wish I had known of its history when I was there. Of course not only do I love it for its culture, history, beauty and friendly people but for one more very important reason. It is from here that in July 2002, my husband and I adopted our son, Dow.
There is another weird coincidence. When a huge group of us were in a government office to have our adoptions made official in the eyes of Chinese government I struck up a conversation with a woman who had gone to school in Ohio, my home state. Turns out she had dated an aquaintance of mine from high school. If that isn't weird enough, she was an employee of CERF and had been to NCECAs. To add the frosting to this cake I saw her again when I was manning the orginization check-in table as a volunteer at the Baltimor NCECA! We got many dirty looks as we brought the sign in to a dead halt while we pulled out photos and compared notes on our children!
Hope I see her in Phoenix. :^) --Kim H.
--- On Fri, 9/5/08, mel jacobson wrote:
> From: mel jacobson
> Subject: hang zhou/china
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
> Date: Friday, September 5, 2008, 9:30 AM
> thanks ric for your great report on hang zhou.
> joe koons is in hang zhou at the present time.
> he loves the place...calls it the finest city in china.
> he loves tea. in history, hang zhou was considered the
> most people friendly place on earth. it is his eighth trip
> to the region. he is on very friendly terms with the
> museum
> and they love our pots. so...we are proud of that.
>
> his take on the hare's fur tenmoku was that
> it was basic kitchen ware for china. some was
> exported, but most was domestic.
> the royal families would get their share.
> much of that was decorated and signed. the basic
> ware of course was not signed...just bowls.
> most monks carried the bowls to japan. they became,
> according to many scholars...tea ceremony....
>
> the shard piles of the those dragon kilns are immense.
> some think there are millions and millions of shards.
> what people thought were large bamboo covered hills are
> really shard piles...yes, that big. japanese collectors
> have
> mined those piles....that has been stopped...the present
> government realizes the value of hare's fur.
>
> when i was invited to the `national academy of science`
> in shanghai i realized how much research has been done to
> discover the `how` of that firing technique. i was able
> to add a couple of pieces to the puzzle. i convinced them
> that is was not a single glaze, but probably two or three.
> a matt holding glaze, and a rich iron over glaze. that is
> how
> i got it to work...and of course..cone 13/ox.
> sagger pots do not always reduce...even in smoke and ash.
> that is why i fired with a neutral to even oxidized
> atmosphere.
> fired fast, and hot. oil spotting, partridge feather, a
> yellowish
> mottled glaze was also produced. it was a huge variety.
> not just hare's fur. depends on the chamber, the
> intensity
> of heat, placement in the kiln. those sagger piles were
> five
> feet tall. about 15 feet across. the many oil spot glazes
> that
> were fired lead me believe in multiple glaze. once you
> start
> to fire oil spot glazes...they just come to life. it is
> very simple.
> (see the black/ huge oil spot bowl on my website...index
> page.)
>
> joe koons has been a ferocious lover of the region...he has
> spent his adult life in research about tenmoku and
> hare's fur.
> there are few that know it like he does. the respect he
> has
> among chinese scholars and chemists is great. he is one of
> the finest friends i have made in my adult life. passion,
> knowledge
> and a sense of awe. we need more of that. when you study
> the old pots, it makes your new pots better. when you
> understand
> the simplicity of early glazes, it makes so much sense.
> simple, found
> ingredients, locally obtained. melted together. remember,
> those seat of
> the pants chemist potters of a thousand years ago where
> smart
> puppies. they understood the fire, glass, melt...they felt
> it.
> it was business...their life.
> mel
> from minnetonka:
> website http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
> clayart site:
> http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
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