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HAMISH JACKSON POTTERY

Chapel Hill
North Carolina
818.384.5437

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HAMISH JACKSON POTTERY

  • HOME
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  • About
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Flask with Shoulder Pads
34.00
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Sriped Cruet
38.00
sold out
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Small Fermentation Crock
42.00
sold out
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Barrel Mug
25.00
sold out
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Gaiwan
68.00
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Pinched Hip Flask
20.00
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Cruet
38.00
sold out
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Set of two wine sippers
22.00
sold out
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Dandelion Barrel Mug
25.00
sold out
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Teabowl
34.00
sold out
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Squished Flask
34.00
sold out
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Quart Fermentation Crock
60.00
sold out
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Set of two tiny tea cups
14.00
sold out
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Bottle Kiln Bud Vase
13.00
sold out
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Celadon Gaiwan
68.00
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Straight Vase
34.00
sold out
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Bottle Kiln Bud Vase
13.00
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Cannister Jar
32.00
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Squared Bottle Vase
34.00
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Bud Vase
18.00
sold out
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Small Fermentation Crock
37.00
sold out
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Pint Cup
18.00
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Soy Sauce Dishes
12.00
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Bottles
25.00
sold out
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Straight Mugs
22.00
sold out
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Squared Up Teabowl
34.00
sold out
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Dotty Bud Vase
18.00
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Pie Dish
43.00
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Egg Vase
36.00 48.00
sale
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Hip Flask
20.00
sold out

See instant, up to date, minute by minute, second by second pictures of my clay adventures... @hamish.jackson.pottery
There’s inspiration around every corner in Shigaraki. I was biking back from the supermarket and stumbled upon these rows of sake bottles. Some made in Shigaraki (the brown ones) some made in Seto (the white ones, with a few odd ones from other pottery villages too. These were wheel thrown as opposed to being coiled as all the large jars are. This was just the tip of the iceberg though... inside the shop were some stunning modern pots made by the family who live here (2nd and 3rd generation potters). They both make pots but the older potter (2nd generation) also collects old pots. Despite the language barrier he motioned to me to hop in his car. He promptly took me up the hill to his kiln site (note the kiln has a support that runs all the way up the kiln... perhaps why it’s still standing after 40 + years of use). Beside the kilns was his private museum. I had no idea what I was in for. He has some absolute beauties. Ive been trying to find examples of old Shigaraki pots around town and seen the odd one but this was the mother load. many pieces date from the Momayama period (15th/16th century). I was conscious of his time so didn’t take many pics (and I only had my iPhone) but here are a few hastily snapped pics anyway. Could have spent much longer there. Perhaps I’ll try and go back. It felt like I was Alice falling down the rabbit hole... maybe it won’t be there again next time I look.
Since visiting the Raku Museum in Kyoto and learning about their tradition of teabowl making I have been endeavoring to give it a go. No wheel! Ive been hand forming a basic bowl shape from a disk of clay and then trimming away at it once its set up for a day or two. I’ve been doing a little on each teabowl every day as they get stiffer, refining the shape and cutting more weight out each time. It’s so fun working extractively, and I get to sit down also which is a bonus. There’s an immediacy to cutting away the clay that is so satisfying. Definitely a learning curve though-I’ve lost a few trimming too deep. Also been reading, thinking and talking about the mysteries of ‘wabi’ or ‘wabi-sabi’ with people, trying to pin it down.
View from inside the tea house at Nagoya Castle. “Matcha only” read the sign. Yes, but also not only matcha.
Raku Museum in Kyoto. Amazing place. Totally changed the way I think about raku and teabowls. I had no idea that raku firing came from this one family in Kyoto. Raku Ware was started by Chojiro (the forebear of the Raku family) during the Momoyama period in the mid 16th century. Chojiro’s father was a potter from China who moved to Kyoto. Chojiro was friends with Rikyū (who begun the tradition of the Japanese tea ceremony). Rikyū wanted tea wares with more ‘wabi’... an aesthetic sense that cannot be explained in this short description, and Chojiro set about it. No. 2 picture is one of Chojiro’s-called ‘Oki Island’ and made during the 1570’s. At the time these works were radical and avant-garde, called ‘Ima-yaki’ which meant “now wares.” For the next 450 years, over the course of 15 successive generations the men of the Raku family have all made teawares with Rikyū and Chojiro’s values at heart. Two consistent features of the tradition are: hand forming and carving the teabowls. (no wheels), and the tiny charcoal fired kiln. Each generation is expected to develop their own style though and not merely reproduce previous shapes/ideas. 1) Hand shaping. 2) ‘Eki Island’ by Chojiro. You could see how much this teabowl has been used by the matte worn glaze in the bottom of the teabowl. 3) Stone sagar with space for a single teabowl. 4) Special charcoal for firing. 5) One of the local clays used by the Raku family. 6) Stone from the Kamo River that the family processes and uses to make their classic black glaze. Each generation collects some of this volcanic rock (as well as local clays). A rock pile in the family garden secures the future of this glaze. 7) ‘Hakuraku’ by Raku Jikinyu XV (1949-present). 8) Yakinuki type teabowl, Raku Ryonyu IX, (1756-1834). 9) Black teabowl in the style of Koetsu’s Amagumo, Raku Chonyu VII (1714-70). 10) Red Raku teabowl with chrysanthemum decoration, Raku Jokei II (d. 1635).
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