December 24 -- more UMMA

.

More ceramics.

I love this platter(?). This is a big piece, about two feet long.

Despite its primitive look, it is modern ("about 1960"). It is Japanese, made by Takahashi Rakusai III.

It was roughly cut from a larger piece of clay, and the colors are all kiln-artifact from something else stacked on top of it when it was fired. You can see the marks of the string(? wire?) used to slice it free, sawing back and forth on the surface of the clay, and you can see the marks of the fire....... Everything about this speaks of how it became what it is. The intention of man to mark it is ... nearly obscured by the elemental quality of those marks........





Another modern piece. I was a student in the Ann Arbor Potters' Guild for several years in the late 70s, and I used this glaze there, if it is shino as I suspect.......

Miwa Jujetsu, again Japanese from about 1960.





Another deceptively primitive-looking piece. Its maker was one of Japan's human National Treasures. A big piece of stoneware clay, whacked off, with some "simple" (the kind of "simple" where you think "I could do that," but you couldn't. no way.) marks of white slip and iron.

Wow.

Arakawa Toyozo, Japanese, mid 20th century.





Another 20th century Japanese piece, but earlier.

Completely different intent -- look how much fussier, how much more detailed....

I like this one, too.

Ohara Shoson. Woodblock print.





Oh dear.

At some point my documentation falls apart, and here is where I lost my focus on recording the descriptive info.

Japanese suit of armor. It was the textile details/patterns that caught my eye.









Here is something completely different -- and something that is bafflingly displayed.

Here is what I could see.





Here is what someone just over a foot taller could see.

This object was constructed of a very large number of pieces of wood, *and then turned*. The pattern goes right through. !!!

Why on earth have they got this up so high that no one under about 6'2" can see the inside? ??? Odd, to express it mildly.........





You can tell this is a tour de force of wood working from my eye level, but you don't know it's not "just" veneer unless you are a good deal taller than I and can enjoy the inside as well as the outside!

The wood is gorgeous, and the way the patterns follow the shape........





But you're missing half of the astonishment at the skill and work involved when you can't see this, too!




Let's hope this is a temporary placement and they mean to move it near a stair case, or something, so that everyone can see all there is to see. This is a very large piece -- perhaps 30" in diameter, and, alas, I did not record the info about it.

.