PIEDMONT CHRONICLE - L'Arvista Piemontèisa

12/13/2007

The Art of Raku

Castellamonte, 45 km from Turin, has been known since ancient times for its ceramics. The red clay extracted from the abundant pits in the surrounding hills has allowed this craft to flourish for many centuries. Among the articles produced here are famous ovens, appreciated not only for their utility but for their lovely handcrafted decorations as well.

Every year several artists are invited to the ceramics exhibition to add value to this important event. Their works are displayed at the ceramics museum in Palazzo Botton of Castellamonte. Moreover they also make raku.
Only a few artists use this technique, and one of them is Sandra Baruzzi, who spoke to us. Born in Faenza, she lives and works in Castellamonte where she teaches Ceramic Arts at the Felice Faccio State Art Institute. She is also President of the Associazione Artisti della Ceramica [Ceramic Arts Association] in Castellamonte. In her workshop she displays many works of traditional ceramic art, but the more fascinating ones are the raku works because of their unusual appearance. This artist has showed in personal exhibitions and many of her works are on display in numerous national and international museums.
The meaning of the Japanese word raku is delight, joy, liberation.
It is an ancient ceramics making technique invented in the second half of the 16-century in Japan by a craftsman named Chojiro. In that era the tea ceremony was widely practiced by the population (before that it was a ritual of monks and the noble classes) and the demand for a certain kind of teacups started growing. Raku was a way to rapidly create ceramic pieces that looked aged and worn to reflect the spirit of the Zen philosophy and its aesthetic principles under the expert guidance of tea masters. They were handcrafted one by one to highlight their aged appearance. Chojiro used the same type of material and technique that was used for producing roof tiles: he used sandy clays and took the pieces out of the kiln as soon as their outer coating reached melting point.
The four basic elements are earth, water, fire and air and these are handled with the skill, creativity and imagination of artisans.
Their precious aged appearance is obtained by the thermal shock of cooling.
The main difference between majolica (traditional ceramics) and raku is this: after firing majolica objects are left to cool slowly in the kiln whereas raku objects undergo an additional phase called reduction. The amount of oxygen is reduced by putting smoke-producing substances into the kiln (sawdust, leaves, paper, straw). Another way is to prepare a heap of smoke-producing materials on which to place the piece after removing it from the kiln. To stop the oxygen reduction, the object is immersed in water and this completes the cycle. The firing temperature is 700-800°C and the piece is removed with special pincers. For firing raku you need a kiln built in a particular way. Its structure looks like a can and it is insulated inside with glass wool to maintain the temperature. The kiln must be heated up to a temperature of about 900°. A burner supplied by a gas cylinder introduces a flame into the lower part of the kiln.
The first raku were black. Later they were also made in browns and reds.
Throughout the centuries raku has been considered a novel way of making ceramics and in the past few decades it has also become popular in the West. The techniques can be learned in the book A Potter’s Book by English painter Bernard Leach. In the book he tells about his experience of traveling through Japan. Later it also appeared in the U.S.A., but raku made in the West is profoundly different from the Japanese kind that inspires Leach. In the West raku has lost the spiritual meaning associated with the tea ceremony – it has become merely a ceramics technique.


Luana Zampieri

References:
Artist Sandra Baruzzi, email sambaru@libero.it
Castellamonte’s municipal website, http://www.comune.castellamonte.to.it
Ceramics Association: http://www.ceramics-online.it