Rakau firing demo planned

Ty Dimig, of Georgia College & State University’s Art Department, will share the art of rakau firing, one of the oldest and quickest methods of firing pottery, behind Blackbridge Hall Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m.

“Rakau firing is an old Japanese way of firing pots,” said Dimig, assistant professor of Art. “It is an immediate process, instead of lasting three days like other firing methods.”

The art department and Alpha Rho Tau are co-sponsoring this program along with a cook-out to raise funds. Hot dogs will be on sale, and there will be a bonfire. Alpha Rho Tau will be painting the hot dog out behind Blackbridge Hall during this program.

All of Dimig’s classes will be participating in this event.

“This is a chance to do something outside of class and to show others what we have been doing in class,” said Dimig. “I try to introduce all sorts of methods to my classes, and this is one way to introduce a method.”

“We will build a fire outside and put pieces of pottery in, so they can get hot really fast. Then, we will take out the pieces while they are still hot and drop them into a material that will suck the oxygen out of the pieces,” said Raegan Kaempf, a senior art major. “Then you can place the pottery into three different glazes; the red glaze shines and is metallic. There is also a white glaze and white and black glaze. For this process, special clay that will be able to stand up to the sharp drop in temperature is used. This process is rather quick. The other processes of firing usually take three days.”

The firing technique isn’t the only thing different about this type of pottery.

“You use a special kind of clay, but you treat it like any other. Then, you fire it at normal temperature and then slowly reduce the temperature, instead of firing the clay really fast and cool it down quickly. Then you take it out when it is red hot and glowing. Next, you put it into a carbon-trapping and flammable substance, and the substance along with it are put into a trash can,” said Kirsten Hill, a senior art major. “Then, you wait until the fire goes out; then you are done! If the piece had a glaze, it comes out glazed and will be put into water at the end to cool it off, but if the piece didn’t have a glaze, it will just be black.”

Students participating will make one or two pieces. The process, however, means the product is different from traditional pottery.

“Because of the process we are using to make these pieces, they can’t hold water,” said Kaempf. “Also, you can’t drink out of these pieces, so I am making decorative pieces. However, this process works well because you can make your pieces and then take them home right after. It is lots of fun.”

This event is open to the public, and anyone is welcome to bring a piece to be fired. If you have any questions, please contact Ty Dimig at 445-7025 or the art department at 445-4226.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 2 2001. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry