| What
is Raku?
Raku is a ceramics method resulting in the gorgeous metallic
and iridescent finishes you see on the pieces above. Raku
is more than just a firing process though. It is a specific
type of clay, glaze, building process and firing method all
culminating in an art form used to express the profoundness
of the Zen mind. It is a tradition steeped in spirituality,
culture and profound contemplation. This is what needs to
be understood if the true spirit of raku, Zen, and the wabi
aesthetic, which can be understood as the avoidance of luxury
and falsity, is to be correctly transmitted, understood, appreciated
and kept alive.
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Name:
Mike - Glaze: Uguisi Nightingale |
Paul
Soldner is often considered the father of American raku.
A somewhat apocryphal story is often told about a gathering
of friends and students at his studio where he removed a
glowing pot from the kiln and placed it on a brick. The
pot was bumped accidentally, and it rolled down a hillside
and into a pond. Later, when the pot was retrieved, someone
observed that the colorful glaze pattern resembled pots
that the Japanese were making and calling raku. In truth,
this was quite incorrect since Japanese raku was never brightly
colored. Historically, in Japan, Raku potters endeavored
to make teabowls with subdued red or black colors to match
the spirit of wabi present in the traditional tea ceremony.
Nonetheless, from that time forward, Soldner and his students
began adding the process known as post-firing reduction
after pots were removed red hot from the kiln. It is not
known when or where the practice of placing the red-hot
ware into a sealed container to cool in a reduced oxygen
environment originated, but it is clear that this is a Western
modification of the raku process and certainly not something
ever done by Chojiro or any of the subsequent 16 generations
of Japanese Raku Masters.
Raku is the only ceramic which is removed from the kiln
when it is red hot. I hold the temperature at 1800 degrees
Fahrenheit for about five minutes, then remove the pottery
to a metal trash can into which I have placed varying amounts
of newspaper and combustibles. The fire that results will
exhaust the oxygen in the can and then, in order to continue
smoldering, will draw oxygen out of the chemicals in my
glazes. As oxygen is withdrawn from the copper carbonate,
silver nitrate, etc., the copper and silver are released
to attach to the surface and give the color and metallic
effects unique to raku fired pieces.
Please note as you view the pieces that the raku firing
method is used to create pieces of decorative ceramic art
which are always one-of-a-kind originals.
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