Raku roughly translated means enjoyment. It is the ancient Japanese art of rapidly glaze firing pottery. Designed to accompany the Buddhist Tea Ceremony objects are glazed and dried out on top of the kiln. When thoroughly dry the work is fired to around 900°C. At this temperature the pots are pulled from the kiln and placed in combustible materials before being plunged into water.
During this workshop students glaze pots and have them fired. The process takes about one hour. All participants take finished work away with them.
Earth Ovens
It takes between one and three days to make an earth oven. They are made from clal, straw and sand which is often referred to as cob. Opposite are several examples the New Ark Clay oven was built with the young participants during the summer of 2005, The Castle Primary School Earth oven was built with many participants from different year groups and was part of a week long residency during art week in July 2007. the theme was using natural materials in the environment.
Images below show young students working with a variety of natural materials that were found on site at Barnwell Country Park near Oundle in East Northamptonshire.
Inspired by images of Andy Goldsworthy and Chris Drury’s work the participants completed a number of different sculptural tasks during the day, working also with willow and clay. |
