Yesterday I spent time with someone I met late in my working life...an artist...a talented painter and ceramist...we correspond often, but rarely see each other face-to-face...
He wanted to meet and talk about the pros and cons of moving from Windows to the Mac platform...a long-time Windows user, he is hesitant to take the leap...and his approach to it is careful and considered...as it should be...
When he arrived, as always, he came bearing a gift...something especially beautiful...something he made with his hands...something uniquely his...
A yunomi cup...for sake or tea...it fits perfectly in my hand...and has an extraordinary glaze...adorned with a pattern of indentations that rarely occur from wood and soda firing...he created it using Hikarigama or "enlightened kiln"...a process developed over many years by his master teacher...
As I first raised the cup to my lips, I thought of all of the other pots fired with this cup...the group of artists who came together...who loaded their wares into an enormous kiln...almost two stories high to the top of the stack...who offered their precious work up to a temperamental process...where the final outcome is the result of everyone's work and attention...and is always unknown...
I thought of the effort involved in creating one treasured object...the wood that had been cut...and stacked...and carried...the fire that had been stoked for many days...a fire requiring care and constant attention...around the clock...by a team of eight people who feed the flame...who create of the kiln a living, breathing being...
I thought about what it must be like to create something beautiful...and then offer it up to a fire...knowing you cannot control the outcome...knowing that there is only one kiln in the entire world that could possibly create the final result...knowing that only the most patient and nurturing of artists are able to coax each pot to its fullest expression...
Every time I raise the cup to my lips I think of these things as I search for my mouth's perfect resting place...I feel the subtle variations of the shino glaze on my lips...the effects of 110 hours of wood flame....the tiny indentations against the tip of my tongue...and I imagine the sheer joy of the artists who first discovered this more than 1,000 years ago...the joy of beings long dead...yet ever-present in my conscious awareness...
Yunomi cup by John Weber...created June 2013...