Martha, this is for you.

Yesterday we did a raku firing at North Idaho Colllege. Raku is a low fire ceramic technique from Japan.The kiln is portable. The top is pulled up, and when the pots are red hot, they are carefully taken out and placed in a trash can with straw. This treatment gives the bare places a black color and the accent-glazed places, hopefully, an oil-slick irridescent quality.

It's a social event. Everyone needs to cooperate and there is time to wait for things to happen. We all brought food, talked, ate, and admired each others work. With raku pieces, it's not a good idea to become too attached to a particular outcome. Lots of things can go wrong. It was fun watching the very young college coed trying a lift a heavier pot of mine with the tongs and failing three times. I was certain she'd drop it but she finally managed.












 
Black cracks in the white glaze are desirable.



Concerned NIC students shielding the pots on the top of the kiln from rain while they warm.

The kanji character for the term "raku" means enjoyment.

The teacher, Larry Clark, gets an "E" for effort. He put a lot of effort and energy into teaching and shared his expertise generously, answering my persistent questions. I became so involved that I let many of my other artistic efforts fall by the wayside. It became clear to me that clay, for me, can be addictive.

A big part of this class was being a part of a community of artists and hanging out with younger people. I enjoy their energy. With creative projects they are so cool because they don't know they can't do something so they do it anyway.

I learned that for the 20-30 something age group, there is absolutely no stigma about being a single mom, something that is different from my generation. One of my classmates, when asked if she was going to marry her boyfriend/father of her child remarked, "Gee, after you have a baby with someone, you learn things about them that make you not feel the need to marry." Yikes! What an interesting statement.

At NIC, there is an electric kiln and a big honkin' gas kiln. When pieces are fired in an electric kiln it is like putting them in a toaster, predictable. The gas kiln, on the other hand, is a trial by fire and the results can be either great or desastrous. It is best to not be too attached to a particular outcome.






A few of my pieces.






We had a sculpture assignment. My intention was to make a couple of spiral shapes. I didn't have much more of a concept. When I started doing the project, I was very aware of the space where the clay could go and then the clay just started growing and this weird creature thing happened. I say happened because I felt I wasn't the one doing this. It was transformative for me. Don't know if anything like this will happen again.






Does anyone care to help me with a name/title?