It is always a pleasure to have an opportunity to show my work in my native state of North Carolina. This oribe sake flask/tokkuri will be exhibited in "Small Works", at Gallery 906 in Wilmington, NC. The show opens on May 23rd, 2025 and runs through July 18th, 20205. The gallery's address is 906 Castle Street, Wilmington, NC.
Since learning of Higashida-san's oribe glazed ceramics several years ago, I have been in awe of his work. He has kind enough to provide me information via emails, and exhibited in the sakeware show I curated at Stratford Gallery in England. Yesterday (Saturday, April 5th) was a wonderful experience in that I got to meet him in person at Lucy Lacoste Gallery in Concord, MA. He and his wife were here from Japan for the opening of his solo exhibition. This is a picture of the two of us standing in front of one of his oribe platters.
In experimenting with formulations to achieve a "Chinese Blue" glaze, a couple of experimental glazes resulted in a "Peach Bloom" glaze. This particular glaze was developed in China during the Qing dynasty, which was from 1662 - 1911, and was particularly favored during the Kangxi era (1662-1722). Being a copper based glaze, it's color characteristics are described as a transparent green that blushes pink or a pinkish background with green or red speckling. Here are a few of the pieces from my wood firing. There are Peach Bloom pieces available on my website's "SHOP" page:
http://www.lucienkoonce.com/shop/wood-fired
I was recently invited by Ceramics Monthly magazine editor Katie Reaver to be featured in "Spotlight", which is a full-page article of an artist and answers to two interview questions. It is running in the December 2024 issue, page 72; this is an image of the article:
It is an honor to have been invited to participate in a biennial exhibition of tea bowls from around the world. The "Philadelphia International Tea Bowl Exhibition" will be showcased from February 1st, 2025 though March 8th, 2025 at the Community Arts Center, 414 Plush Mill Road, Wallingford, PA. I will have the following tea bowls in this show:
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| Chinese Blue Summer Chawan |
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| Oribe Chawan |
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| Wood-fired Chawan |
Its a pleasure to have my sake cup exhibited in Cups of Contemplation (see below) receive an Award of Excellence by jurors Tom and Elaine Coleman.
In my quest to come up with a glaze recipe that is as close to the old Chinese Blue used by the Jugtown Pottery era of the Busbees, and Ben Owen Pottery, I have made, and fired, several tests. Despite having a chemical analysis of the original from the 1980's, its been a challenge even using glaze calculation software. And what I have found is that the test I had formulated back when I was working for Ben, III shows the most promise. There is still the need to tweak the recipe, for various reasons, but I feel that I am close to something that will be satisfactory. Here is a cup that I just got out of my wood/gas conversion kiln. The one thing I have noticed in doing these various tests is the importance that wood firing plays in achieving the color of Chinese Blue.
