Contemporary Raku (eBook)

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

R aku is a Japanese word that has been freely interpreted in the West as ‘enjoyment’.

The ‘enjoyment’ is generated from the ‘full-on’ involvement and total engagement with an exploration of ideas interlocked with a magical process! It is a constant search for an elusive unknown perfect outcome. The famous potter Hans Coper once compared his work to that of a ‘demented piano tuner, trying to approximate a phantom pitch’. Many contemporary makers are engaged in a way of working which could be defined as ‘Raku’, a fusion of ideas and process that continues to develop and evolve. In this book, the concept and practice of Raku is revealed through insights provided by some leading practitioners, informed by the first-hand experience that is constantly increasing their knowledge.

Pottery is as tactile as it is visual and should be seen and experienced in the round. Manipulating clay and making is an extremely tactile experience. As the forms slowly develop, intuitive decisions are made. A change of direction here, a seam added there, more scraping and refining required. Developments that take place during the making process are influenced and informed by ideas that have been developed from experiences absorbed and observations made over many years.

Visual connections are noted, memories of museum visits and ancient pots revisited. Sketchbooks are referred to, and even older and undeveloped ideas remembered. The anticipation of the firing to come builds as recipes are adjusted and pieces are glazed, with some new combinations of colour to be explored.

The first piece is gently placed in the kiln and as the temperature slowly rises, the excitement and expectations increase. The glaze has matured and the vessel is carefully removed from the kiln with metal tongs and placed onto a pre-prepared bed of sawdust and wood shavings. Flames and smoke erupt as more shavings are added and the lid is put on the bin. The hours slip slowly by, the lid is removed, with a combination of expectations, doubts, anxiety and enjoyment, the form (still very hot) is slowly revealed. That fundamental desire to create, the total involvement with the drama of the firing process and the hopeful anticipation for the potential of the outcome, are all part of the Raku experience.

The earliest Raku was produced in Japan around 500 years ago, and has been greatly developed since those early beginnings to become the exciting and constantly evolving practice used by many leading makers of ceramics today.

As with most creative processes, there is never a right or wrong way to do things. There will only be ways which work for the many individual and inventive makers currently involved with a particular process. Experimentation is the key to progress in all creative fields, and for me personally, each firing is an experiment! The results from the kiln will often indicate another focus for the next firing. This will usually involve further developments being made to forms and surfaces.

THE ORIGINS OF RAKU

Raku has its origins in the sixteenth-century tea ceremonies of Japan. The greatest of the tea masters was Seno-Riyku (1522–91). He established the concept of ‘Wabi’, which translates as ‘austerity’ or ‘simplicity’.

Rikyu commissioned Chōjirō to make Raku ware which he felt best represented the idea of ‘Wabi’ and was most fitting for tea ceremony use. Usually these were ‘pinched and hand-made simple bowl forms’, often with a subdued glaze of shades of grey through to black.

Sebastian Blackie was my tutor at Farnham and later succeeded Henry Hammond as Head of the Ceramics Department. Sebastian went on to become a Professor of Ceramics for the MA course at Derby College. Sebastian here provides an insight into the development of Oribe ware and how this relates to the contemporary approach to Raku.

It was Bernard Leach who introduced the concept of Raku to the West. His famous Potter’s Book contains a description of a garden party in Tokyo in 1911. This included a tea ceremony and participation in a Raku firing, which was Bernard’s first pottery experience.

Raku soon became known in the West as a process in which pots are rapidly fired, and removed from the kiln when glowing red-hot. A more recent Western development was to place the glowing pot into a metal bin or pit which contained combustible materials, creating many colours, textures and metallic lustres. This became known as post-firing reduction and involved the restriction of oxygen inside a reduction chamber, usually a metal bin. This often created some striking and dramatic surface effects.

Raku has evolved into the exciting and challenging process now being explored by contemporary potters using many varied and individual approaches.

PAUL SOLDNER

The Raku process was explored and developed by the American artist and potter Paul Soldner during the 1960s. His strong sculptural pieces (often thrown and altered) were decorated using engobes and metal oxides, and expressed Soldner’s intuitive feeling for the affinity of form and decoration. It was Soldner’s approach to the Raku process that made a huge impact on the work of potters in the West. Here Sebastian Blackie gives an account of his first-hand experience of Paul Soldner and his approach to Raku.