Two Small Bronze Sculptures

These two small bronze sculptures are from my collection.  The cat is by a local bronze caster and artist, Kerk Taylor.  The title in "Sophisticat".  The Maori warrior is "Parahaka" and is an early piece by Terry Stringer, a well respected New Zealand bronze caster.

Two Japanese Tea Bowls

The lidded Oribe Tea Bowl in the top image is unusual as not often do you see lidded tea bowls.  It could, of course, be used for soup or food so it is really a dual purpose bowl.  The other Shino Tea Bowl is more traditional with its undulating rim and shape.

Pots from Koishiwara, Kyushu, Japan

After visiting Mashiko the next pottery we visited was Kumau Ohta Sans at Koishiwara in Kyushu..  The tea pot and drinking cups were from a very successful firing he had while we were in Japan.  The slip decorated soy jar we found at a flea market in Kyoto and is clearly marked with Ohta San's pottery mark.

Barry Brickell

Well known New Zealand potter, Barry Brickell sadly died on January 23rd.2016.  Besides being a very good potter Barry was a conservationist, painter and constructor of the Driving Creek Railway.  His railway has brought many tourists from around the world and is a wonderful asset to Coromandel.  These two pots of Barry's are from my collection.

From My Collection

As this is supposed to be a pottery blog and I am not making any new pots I have decided to show some of my collection.  Some I may have shown before but that would have been some time ago.  These pots are by Sanyo Fujii Sensei and were made in our studio in New Zealand and fired in our anagama.  They were not considered good enough to be shown at our joint exhibition in Osaka so were left with us for our enjoyment.

Beautiful New Zealand

Friends of mine spent the New Year tramping the Routeburn Track in the South Island.  The weather was perfect for the trip and I was sent these pictures showing Lake Mackenzie and the valley through which the track passes.  What a wonderful part of New Zealand!

Two Wonderful Gifts

For my birthday I was given these two wonderful gifts from my UK potter friends.  The bowl is by Lisa Hammond, one of UK's top potters.  It is a lovely addition to my collection.  The bottle of wine is probably the top local wine which was ordered on line from the UK.  It is very special and is no longer available and will probably be the most expensive wine I will ever drink. Fortunately the givers of this gift are coming to stay next month so I will open it then and share it with them.