146. Jason Edmonds, wood-fired tokkuri with two guinomi

146. Jason Edmonds, wood-fired tokkuri with two guinomi

 

Edmonds is a potter and ceramics teacher in Davis, California. His studio is called “of the dirt pottery.”  More of his work can be seen on his Instagram account @of­_the_dirt.

Dark chocolate clay, interior of tokkuri glazed; exterior colors from wood firing and clay. Tokkuri. Weight: 526 g (1.2 lb). Rim diameter: 3.5 cm (1-3/8 in); maximum diameter: 10 cm (4 in); base diameter: 6.3–7.0 cm (2-1/2 – 2-3/4 in). Height: 13.5 cm (5-3/8 in). Guinomi (each). Weight: 130 g (4.6 oz). Rim diameter: 4.7–5.3 cm (1-7/8 – 2-1/8 in); foot ring diameter: 3.3 cm (1-1/4 in). Height: 6 cm (2-3/8 in).

The tokkuri sits directly on the flat base, which has an irregular shape. The walls rise in a convex arc to the neck which begins 10 cm (4 in) above the base and is 3.3 cm (1-1/4 in) in diameter at that point. The walls reach the maximum diameter 5.7 cm (2-1/4 in) above the base. The neck is a shallow concave arc to the lip. This appears to have been thrown on a wheel.  There are four slightly irregular and angled vertical columns spaced more or less equally around the exterior, each about 0.6 cm (1/4 in) wide, creating four spaces. The clay in these spaces was cut out to varying depths, leaving ridges and flat areas of different sizes. The exterior is rough and unfinished. The guinomi appear to be thumb pots. Each has an irregular foot ring, 0.6–1.0 cm high on the exterior; the interiors have been hollowed out to a similar depth. The interiors are relatively smooth; the exteriors have been cut and gouged in the same way as the tokkuri.

The interior of the tokkkuri is glazed, presumably to make it waterproof. The colors come from the clay and the wood-firing. One area on the exterior of the tokkuri is a dark reddish-brown from the wood-firing; the rest is a dark brown color. One of guinomi has a shiny ash deposit on part of the foot ring.

This is brutalism in action; these very much illustrate the nature of the clay. When I unwrapped these, there was even a strong smell of mud. Although the inside of the tokkuri was glazed to make it waterproof, the surface of the guinomi is so rough that drinking from them would endanger the lips.

Purchased from the artist in August 2021.