Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Twelfth Class, Friday, Aug.16, All Good Things Come to an End

Pottery tends to be a more communal, more social art than painting, and Raku is even more so. The entire firing process involves a team of people working together. One has to be quick and careful with the red hot pottery and cans of combustibles that soon to go ablaze. The pullers perform a tight choreography as they move about trying not to burn each other. The potters who man the cans have to be alert on when to open and close them. All this makes for a tight bond between the people doing Raku. Last night we did this dance for the last time. At least for the immediate future.  I will definitely  miss the class and all the people I got to know and work with. Especially our teacher and fire master. Our last night we did two firings and had a great pot luck dinner.  My last three pots were fired and turned out reasonably well; the glazing and carving of landscape motifs mixed with the more unpredictable results of a Raku firing. I definitely want to pursue these possibilities sometime in the future.  All in all I'm very happy with the pottery I've done over the past month, but I realize every thing can be developed much further. I hope it isn't too long before I'm back at the Raku kiln and I hope the teacher and students will be just as great.i



















2 comments: