Kindergarten through fourth-grade students at Catharine Blaine School enjoyed a cultural art experience on April 6.
The purveyor of that experience was Eric Solberg from Seattle Pottery Supply, who brought kilns to the school for a special raku pottery firing demonstration.
Raku is a form of Japanese pottery typically characterized by a very metallic appearance after firing or, depending on the glaze, a white-crackle type appearance.
Students from Blaine art teacher Patti Christie's classes all created their own Japanese tea bowls. The students painted different glazes on the surfaces of their creations to achieve varying results, and Solberg put each bowl under one of the three kilns running extremely hot at 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.
The classes each came out during the day to watch Solberg move the bowls from the kiln into buckets stuffed with newspapers. Solberg put a lid on top after a few bowls were placed in one of the buckets; the bucket then is covered with wet cloths to eliminate oxygen, causing the fire to go out; the pots are at 700 degrees at this point. Smoke results from the deoxidization, creating that unique raku result.
As students looked on, Solberg removed those bowls that had been sitting in the buckets for the proper duration, setting them down for students to see.
Some bowls turned a brick-red color with various metallic colors on the inside and outside of the bowl. Other bowls with a different glaze wore a white-gray color with small crack-lines surrounding the bowl, a result of the carbon.
Christie explained to her students that this effect is very difficult to achieve-not surprisingly, as the result is quite amazing to behold. Solberg informed the students that the metallic colored pots will also change colors in the future as they reoxidize. There are no guarantees in raku.
Raku is a fairly quick and easy form of pottery-it only takes about an hour and a half to complete the entire firing process. Straw and sawdust may be substituted for the newspapers; newspapers, however, are the least messy. Raku professionals also use substances such as horse hair to achieve special effects on their pottery.
Solberg visits other schools as well to demonstrate raku firing, and has been doing it for about nine years. "This is the real reason I enjoy doing pottery," he said.
The students enjoyed watching the demonstration; the youngest students were fascinated and paid close attention, growing excited to see the final results of their work; even the parents were anxious to see the final outcome.
The raku firing proved to be an educational day for the Blaine students, and a cultural experience as well. Their pottery will certainly serve as a reminder.[[In-content Ad]]
