Raku Firing
Raku is a low-temperature technique of firing porous pottery, in which the pieces are removed from the kiln while glowing hot, placed into a reduction environment deprived of oxygen, and then quickly cooled. The uncertainties are many and invoke an intimate transformation of both the potter and pot alike.
"Raku comes from a background of universal human experience and offers the potter spiritual insight into themselves as well as their craft. As potters, we can only hope to widen our consciousness so that our work can have a deeper meaning. Working with clay can often satisfy an inner need."
- Robert Piepenburg
"Each time the potter transforms a mass of clay the clay is transforming the potter; their creating is the searching and finding of meaning; an attempt to unite man and their being."
- Robert Piepenburg
The reduction process is the final moments of intimacy between the pot and the potter that culminate the creative expereience. By placing pieces in an oxygen-deprived atmosphere, the combustion draws fuel from the clay and glaze itself. The resulting effects are magnificent - the clay body blackens, and the iridescent lusters of metallic glazes bloom.
"Our work represents us. It reflects our vision and spirit. It echoes our moods and experiences. Pottery is not created by the hands alone but by the entire body and being."
- Robert Piepenburg
