Russel Fouts on sat 19 apr 03
How about this for an idea. Niccolo Paganini left his violin to the City
of Genoa. Qualified musicians, "under strict conditions" can play it.
Several have recorded with it, even jazz!.
What if it could be arranged for people to fire the kilns of the greats
or work in the studios of the greats?
I imagine that many of those kilns might still be in use, Hamada's I
suppose might be, I saw Kawai's in Kyoto but it's not being used. It's
also true that many (especially those with big wood kilns) are perfectly
happy to have people come along and help, so you don't have to wait
until their dead. ;-)
Imagine being able to throw pots on Hamada's, Leach's or George Orr's
wheels.
Russel
--
Russel Fouts
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Lee Love on mon 21 apr 03
----- Original Message -----
From: "Russel Fouts"
>, I saw Kawai's in Kyoto but it's not being used.
>
> Imagine being able to throw pots on Hamada's, Leach's or George Orr's
> wheels.
Hi Russel,
If my memory serves me, wood kilns have not been allowed to fire in
Kyoto since the '70s. Leach's kiln is not fireable, because it had concrete
poured into the floor to keep it from disintegrating. Hey, it's for sale and
people are raising funds to buy it and preserve it as a museum.
I heard Sensei tell an American visitor that the Red Pine (preferred
wood for fuel in Japanese kilns) all have some kind of disease and are dying.
Since I heard this, I 've started examining the mountain forests, and sure
enough, you can pick out the dead Red Pine because they are brown patches on the
hillsides.
Hamada's kiln isn't being used, but it is pretty big and I am sure it
is temperamental. I've seen a third of the work from a Noborigama thrown out
because of one problem or another. The wood to fire them cost a lot of money
(about $2.50 a bundle and it takes from 1500 to 2500 bundles, depending on the
kiln. So we are talking about the minimum of $3,000.00 for a glaze firing. I
wouldn't consider trying to fire in one of these kilns unless I had two or three
years of my life to devote to learning them.
Don't know about Orr. Does his kiln survive? ;^)
--
Lee In Mashiko Ikiru@hachiko.com
.
"With Humans it's what's here (he points to his heart) that makes the
difference.
If you don't have it in the heart, nothing you make will make a
difference."
~~Bernard Leach~~
(As told to Dean Schwarz)
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