Ceramic & Raku
Fired Earth inspired by ‘The Japanese Tea Ceremony’
This body of work was completed following a trip to San Francisco when I stayed in the Japanese district of the city. During my stay I became intrigued by the Japanese culture and the Tea Ceremony, in particular by the items used as part of the ceremony.
This collection of work was inspired by the shapes and designs of the vessels and items used within the Tea Ceremony, in most cases I have used an ancient method of firing known as Raku.
Raku firing & the Japanese tea ceremony
Raku pottery is arguably the most exciting ceramic process, the technique is where a pot is heated in a kiln to around 1000 degree’s centigrade within a relative short time (around 30 minutes), once the glaze is fluid the pot is taken out of the kiln and put into a steel container with organic material such as paper, saw dust, leaves etc. this will ignite and a lid is placed on the container to eliminate any oxygen.
As the materials burns a reduction process will effect the final results on the finished surface of the pot – the result is totally unpredictable and impossible to replicate, several of the pots in this series have gone through a multiple firing process and again these results can never be repeated.
Raku was traditionally developed in the sixteenth & seventeenth century in Japan and used for the production of utensils for the Japanese tea ceremony, at this time this was probably the most comprehensive and evolved aesthetic experienced devised by man.
In an age of social disorder, violence and mental stress Raku and the Tea Ceremony, with their links to Zen Buddhism, offered a means of escape and opened up new possibilities for obtaining personal significance and a meaningful existence through an involved and positive approach to life.
It is these very ideals that have led to the rise in the popularity of Raku as a creative experience in our own times.