FINE ARTS
Playing with Fire Students Learn the Art of Raku Raku is an ancient pottery technique that is
both exciting and unpredictable. Although the results are hard to control, it can produce beautiful surprises, as three St. Sebastian’s students recently discovered for themselves. On Monday, November 18, 2013, Marlon Matthews ’14, James Ryan ’16, and Patrick Ryan ’18, along with faculty member Barrett Ellis, traveled to the Potters Shop in Needham to learn the art of raku from artist Steve Branfman. At the workshop, the boys had the unique opportunity to make their own pottery alongside Branfman. “Being in the presence of an expert potter and watching him work was an honor and truly amazing,” said Patrick. In this traditional Japanese process, fired pottery is removed from a hot kiln and is allowed to cool in the open air or in a container filled with combustible material. It is raku’s unpredictable results and intense colors that attract modern potters. The patterns and colors result from the harsh cooling process and the amount of oxygen that is allowed to reach the pottery. Depending on what effect the artist desires, the pottery can be either instantly cooled in water, cooled slowly in the open air, or placed in a barrel, covered, and allowed to smoke. In the weeks leading up to the workshop, the students prepared by creating slab build pots, coil pots and masks during their free time after school. During the evening of the workshop, they glazed their work and loaded it into a kiln to heat up to about 1800 degrees. Once the pots were glowing and the glaze had started to melt, Branfman took the pots out of the kiln. Each student then took the lead on how they wanted to finish the work, either by spraying it with water to rapidly cool the pot or placing it in a trash barrel with sawdust and letting it smoke. “Seeing the glaze melting on the red hot clay was the coolest (or hottest) part, although a close second was watching a fireball of dry leaves erupt from the trash can as a glowing pot was put inside,” said James. All three students were pleased with the very unique outcome of their pieces. The opportunity to watch a real master practice his craft, and to learn how to do it themselves, was a fun and fascinating experience. As Marlon said, “I enjoyed the project mostly because it was completely new to me and I love broadening my scope, especially when it involves art.”
(l to r): Patrick Ryan ’18, artist Steve Branfman, James Ryan ’16, Marlon Matthews ’14 and art teacher Barrett Ellis.
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