arts
Raku
An oriental process with an American touch
Students gathered outside
the Art Center Thursday to
learn the Japanese art of raku.
They participated in the unique
process of firing clay pots and
bowls.
Students had spent Tues­
day making and preparing clay
pots for Thursday’s firing. Each
pot was covered with pre­
mixed pottery glazes that
workshop director Judy Teufel
prepared. Two different red
glazes were used for each
would bring out a different col­
or.
Two kilns were set up out­
side, each constructed of fine
brick encircling a propane gas
flame, piped in underneath the
kiln. All of the bowls and tea
cups are place inside; and raku
begins.
“Raku is in charge. We’re
just the vehicles,” said Teufel
while waiting to unload the
Idin.
“We put in little pieces,
like tea bowls and tea cups.
Raku works better with smaller
pieces, if they are bigger,
sometimes they burst and
break,” Teufel said. “Hopeful­
ly, no one is resting on the out­
come of the piece,” Teufel
said, when a clink came from a
pot complaining of the heat,
sounded from the kiln.
The kiln will heat up until
the pots are fired and glowing
red hot. Each piece will be
removed at 1700 degrees.
Students
proudly
displayed some earlier pro­
ducts of raku. Molly Weinstein
showed some tea cups that had
a glaze of Borax of Colmanite
and St. Helens ash. The cups
had a metallic finish inside
which reflected the sun.
“When I drink from a tea
cup, I remember the day and
you remember the smell of the
day it was brought out,” says
Teufel.
Betty Bursheim, art in­
structor from West Linn High
School, wife of Norm Bur­
sheim art department chair,
had three pieces in the kiln.
“I have a variety of
planters and a mug,” said Bur­
sheim. “The great thing about
raku art is it’s portable. You can
take your kiln blocks and move
them,” Bursheim said.
The time was just about
ripe. Teufel grabbed her “good
keurma stick,” and opens a door
once enclosed by fine brick.
The pots were glowing red hot,
and glaze turned to a liquid.
“They come out one at a
time not a dozen at a time,”
said Teufel. The pots were
removed with long-tongs and
then each pot was placed in­
side a bucket of hay and papers
to cool the piece for ten
minutes.
‘’When they are placed in
the hay, that’s where those
copper reds come out,” Teufel
exPa*ne<^' *^s an oxVSen*
hungry fire inside. It’s so
® hungry for oxygen, it steals it
T, from the metals. When we put
W it in the hay, that’s where the
CLOSE OBSERVATIONS NEEDED to make Raku tom
out correct. Here Marilyn Schmeer, Dan Mart, and Betty
Bursheim do just that.
transformation of oxygen goes
back into the metal,” Teufel
said.
After the pieces leave the
hay, they go to a bucket of
water for the final cooling pro­
cess. Then “ voila ” you have a
glazed pot that the Raku has
prepared for any purpose you
wish on the piece.
One piece that was fitting
for the Japanese theme of the
day was a wok that came out of
the kiln firey hot. The group
prepared a stir fry lunch on the
heated wok. “Some students
even make their own
chopsticks,” said Teufel.
APPLYING FINAL TOUCHES to her pot, Hilary Russell
gracefully throws on the glaze.
“WATCH THESE POTS, they’re hotter than they look,” commented Judy Teufel,
Raku workshop advisor (left) whie Hilary Russel gives assistance to her.
Last chance to see play
Story by Kristi
Blackman
BEFORE AND AFTER is displayed where a finished pot
sits near other Raku pots waiting to be fired.
Wednesday, June 2, 1982
2.42
Photos by Duane
Hiersche
Will those mad scientists
;rule the world? Will the inmates
in the sanatorium ever accept
living there? Why are the in­
mates scientists or are they
scientists?
Come to the play the
“Physicists” June 3, 4, and 5
and find out. Curtain goes up
at 8 p.m. Tickets are $3 for
adults, $2 for students and $1
for CCC students.
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