Western Raku is a low-temperature, fast firing technique in which the wares are quickly heated and then removed from the kiln while hot and placed into a reduction chamber to quickly cool. The uncertainties are many and invoke an intimate transformation of both the potter and pot alike.

When I met Bonnie Anderson and learned about her love of raku, it sparked a fire within me. I had been longing to explore firing techniques rooted in past ways and to be involved in the transformation, rather than to put my work into an electric kiln; for a machine to decide its fate (as if heat generated by electrical circuits could ever come close to breathing life into an artwork!).

Bonnie shared her passion with me and under her tutelage, I experimented with different copper and crackle glazes smoke firing, terra sigillata, and obvarra. She imparted with me the dance of firing - the rhythm and knowing when the moment is right, how to be delicate yet confident in handling hot work, and to act swiftly and decisively as our our energy gets transferred into our art.

Raku is a fast paced and involved process, perhaps taking only a few hours to load, fire and tidy up. The first firing was exhilarating and every subsequent firing had the same intensity. In loading the kiln, thought must be given to the order of which the pieces will be removed, depending on the hotter and cooler parts of the kiln, and how they could be grasped by the tongs. As the wares heat up, I impatiently waited for the glaze to sweat and the wares to glow cherry red. Removing the wares is a key moment of intimacy, reaching the long crude tongs into the hot kiln to delicately grasp a thin pot, careful not to knock anything else over. The wares get placed into tight fitting containers - we used old cooking pots with shredded magazine paper. The creative process culminates during this reduction process. As the paper burns in the sealed pot, it creates an oxygen-deprived atmosphere and the combustion draws fuel from the clay and glaze itself. The resulting effects are magnificent - the clay body blackens and the iridescent lustres of metallic glazes bloom.

In Japanese, raku means “pleasure” or “enjoyment”. I found enjoyment in the process itself, from the creative choices and active involvement during firing, watching magic happen in real time. With the low-temperature firing, the pots are porous and re-oxidize slowly over time, losing the deep carbon blacks and the colourful metallic lustres. Sadly the raku pit has since been dismantled. Raku is ephemeral, and that is wherein the beauty lies.