We are excited to bring you an opportunity to escape the city for a creative, hands-on experience set in the peaceful environment of South Brandenburg.

On two separate Sundays, we will travel together to the beautiful studio/garden of ceramicist Marie-Annick Le Blanc where you will make your own Raku pottery with a small group, also enjoy a special Japanese lunch on the second day in her tranquil garden. No previous knowledge or experience is required.

 

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Raku, the art of imperfection

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The Raku ceramics tradition, a 16th-century Japanese pottery and firing technique, is closely linked to the ancient Japanese art of tea ceremony and the philosophy of Zen Buddhism. They share many similarities in their founding beliefs and intentions of practice, especially in how through poise and awareness we can connect to ourselves and our environment.

With Raku, one learns to relinquish one’s expectations to the uncertainty of reality. It is about the acceptance of the imponderables; finding the beauty in imperfection. It is a matter of acting at the present moment, of guiding and reacting, and giving chance space to unfold before our eyes. The essence of this technique is to go on a journey of creation. From wet clay to shaping, glazing and firing; then to the finished work of art, thus experiencing and feeling its totality.

One of the most amazing things when making Raku pottery is the moment of removing each piece of work from the gas kiln when it is still bright red hot. Creativity and improvisation give birth to some unique and surprising objects.

A Raku firing process is an event where all the primordial elements such as water, wind, earth and fire are combined together. This process is controllable only to a limited extend and the impossibility of foreseeing the result and the imperfections that appear in the glaze are all part of the attraction and excitement of raku glazing. Raku firing is one of the most dramatic and exciting ways to fire pottery!

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