Nezumi Shino Yosemite Half Dome and Karesansui Shino Rain Drop Wall Piece

w 39.5 in. x h 22.75 in. x d 2 in.
This ceramic ‘painting’ is grounded in a combination of traditional nezumi shino techniques using American ingredients and a contemporary interpretation of traditional materials using non-standard techniques. 

The central tile decorated with the image of Yosemite’s Half Dome is a nod to my youth living and working outside of the national park and my love for California landscapes.  The decoration is achieved by using one iron bearing slip (oni-ita) and one Shino glaze using American materials and the different colors are a byproduct glaze and slip layering. 

The surrounding tiles, reminiscent of a Japanese rock garden and decorated with ripples, are founded in the beauty of early mornings looking and raindrops disturbing the surface of water during the rare rains that help to alleviate Californian droughts. This glaze effect I have named Karesansui shino and is a byproduct of years of research into traditional glaze chemistry. The glaze uses the chemistry of traditional Japanese Shino that are coarsely hand ground and sieved and a technique of raking the glaze into a pattern is used. The tiles were then fired to the glazes sintering point.

The five tile components were then set in a North American Poplar frame with a wall cleat for easy hanging.