| FMMS explores ancient Japanese low-fire pottery process |
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| Thursday, 20 November 2008 | ||
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Staff writer
The kids warmed to the project despite the nippy 25 degree temps last week. Professional potter and teacher Kevin Caufield of St. Paul led the students in the process known as raku, a Japanese low-firing process for clay pottery. The lesson exposes students to the “historic process of clay” and to “an artist who lives and breathes this,” said art teacher Jackie Johnson. The students first created bird house from clay slabs. Caufield led the students through the next steps and finishing touches. They headed outdoors, just outside of the art room, for the firing method. “You can’t do anything wrong in glazing a piece,” Caufield said. “It’s not about being perfect.” The kids first painted the bottoms of the bird houses with wax so they wouldn’t stick to the kiln. They decorated their artwork with glaze. When done, Caufield carefully placed the birdhouses in the bottom of the kiln, set outside the art room at the school. He lit the pilot of the kiln with a propane torch. Temperatures in the kiln soared to 1,800 degrees on the crisp fall day. Kids gathered around to warm their chilly hands. Raku is a type of low-firing process inspired by traditional Japanese raku firing. In western-style raku, the pottery is removed from the kiln while at bright red heat and then placed into containers with combustible materials, such as sawdust and shredded paper, etc. In Fred Moore’s case, about a dozen clay pieces at a time were fired in the kiln for about a half hour and then placed in a galvanized garbage can, the atmospheric reduction barrel, for 15 minutes. Once the materials ignite, the atmospheric reduction, affects the colors in glazes and clay. The thermal shock also produces deliberate cracking. Ultimately, the birdhouses were cooled. Seventh-grader Jacob Tighe likes the control he has in working with clay. He found the process of how the glazes react to heat interesting. “Some glazes will crack or change to get a metallic sheen to them,” he said. He, most likely, will hang his birdhouse outdoors to attract birds. Eighth-grader Garrett Dye had a different idea for his piece. “I will give it to my mom for a piggy bank,” he said. Elyse Kaner is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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