February 18-20

at The Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA

The American Craft Council Show at Baltimore February 24-26

at The Baltimore Convention Center

The Scottsdale Arts Festival March 9-11

at The Scottsdale Center for the performing Arts, Scottsdale, AZ

The Cherry Creek Arts Festival July 6-8

Cherry Creek – Denver, CO

18″ x 16.5″ x 7″

2009, Barbara Harnack

hand built from slabs and pinched stoneware clay, under glazes and over glaze, Raku fired

A collector from Arizona purchased this piece the weekend of October 23, 2010.

I love this piece because of its layering of 3-D sculpting, and 2-D painting.  There is something essential about the way that the couple’s hands are coming together, while they are not looking at each other, but ahead, toward the future.

Barbara is able to say something very special about intimacy, while still remaining subtle.

Michael Lancaster

There are many versions of the origins of Raku and of ‘American’ Raku’.  I will try to give an overview of where it comes from and why some of us call the ‘new style’ “American Raku.”

In 16th Century Japan, a potter from Korea arrived by small boat.  He brought only the tools he could carry with him, as well as a vast knowledge of clay.  His name was Chojiro, and some scholars refer to him as Chojiro I, or the first.  In that time, when ceramic tile roofs were common,  there was a high demand for repair, as tiles would spall or were easily broken.  Because tiles were hand made and rarely unified, the common technique was to remove the broken tile, take it to a potter and have it duplicated.  Chojiro came up with a concept of making a new tile (usually a batch of tiles)  on site and firing them in a small quickly constructed kiln.  The clay was specially designed to take the rapid shock of being removed while red hot.  To aid in cooling, the tile would be added to rice hulls, which would burn at a cooler temperature than the clay which was about 1800 degrees Fahrenheit (about 982 C.).  He recognized a beautiful interaction of clay and surface and later experimented with the process to make bowls for the tea ceremony.  Again, there are several versions of which Chojiro actually took the process for the ceremonial ware.  Personally, I have enjoyed visiting collections which held bowls by Chojiro II through IX.  There were many generations of Chojiro.  He (one of them) was adopted into the Raku family.

In the late twentieth Century, Hal Riegger reintroduced Raku in the United states.  Frequently credited to Paul Soldner, it was actually Reigger and his experimentation with the style that generated a movement and today has a world wide following of ceramic artists who experiment with many ways to rapid fire in these temperature ranges (usually 1800-2,000 F.)  In our case we open the kiln when we judge the clay/glaze color to be sufficient (usually red/orange).  The works are removed either with special tongues, or high temperature mitts.  We place them in a barrel or metal horse trough and add a combustible material (straw) and cover the barrel.  The process is called reduction (a reduced atmosphere of oxygen rich in carbon).  The raw clay is altered as well as the glazed surface.  In some cases we lay the pieces in the trough on a web of split wood (to maintain some higher temperature) and then spray a mixture of ferric chloride and water on the piece.  This step is called “fuming.”  This adds a rich iron patina.  Safety is important, i.e. shielding from fire, heat and protecting eyes, lungs and mucus membranes from smoke and caustic reactions.   I have written and blogged repeatedly on the subject of safety and occasionally it has been dubbed, “Michael Lancaster’s sermon on safety.”

There are many approaches to Raku.  Most often it expresses something something we feel in our primal self; perhaps a time when we (humans) were more closely bonded with the elements, especially fire, earth, air, etc.  Cared for properly it can last for centuries and hopefully like its name was originally intended, can give us everlasting pleasure.

Autumn at 98B

In 1992 we decided we wanted to move from the Espanola Valley and found an ad for land near Madrid for $300 an acre!  Wow.  In less than 3 hours we parted with our new realtor and had a glorious picnic on the mesa top we would one day fondly call “98B.”  The land was more than $300 and acre, but we knew – almost immediately – we wanted to live there.  We decided to be logical and spend a week looking at other properties and other areas.  At the end of the week we had walked over seven other lots in Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, and Taos counties.  After all of that we still wanted the property at 98B Gold Mine Rd (actually, at that time it was 1133 Gold Mine Rd).  The area, 25 minutes to Santa Fe, had everything we thought we wanted:  a little co-op school for our daughter, the intriguing tourist town of Madrid where we could sell our art, a gas station at Mary’s Bar, a few small restaurants, a general store, etc.  The views – breathtaking! So we called the real estate agent back and the price had gone up $10k in one week!  We bought it because we could not stand to wait another day.

Over the next 12 years we would personally lay twenty five thousand adobe blocks, learn framing, basic plumbing, electrical, stone cutting, etc.  Then we would add more structures until there were four main structures and three outbuildings.  Our vision changed to create an art show space, a private compound that could open for entertaining and guests.  This was a dream that Barbara and I had had since 1975 – to hand build our own home, albeit the original concept was smaller.  As our dream manifested, the area transformed as we knew it would, with B&B’s, State Parks, preserves,  a wild horse sanctuary and expanded areas for the film industry.  As our home flourished so did Madrid and Cerrillos.  Now we are ready for the next adventure.

It is our plan to move to the Asheville, North Carolina area for our next adventure.  We truly hope that the right person will come along and enjoy the oasis we have helped to found here on the Mesa top: solar heat, permaculture, green built environments.  Our real estate agents, Ted Rivera and Spence Ralston  have made a wonderful site for 98Bwhich is now on the market.  For the right person(s) this home and compound could be your dream come true.

To view the listing details for 98B Gold Mine Road, click here.

Time to return to the studio and create some of the works that been waiting to manifest.  I look forward to sharing them with you.

Plain State

Barbara and Michael will have a display at the  Contemporary Clay Fair . Saturday & Sunday, November 20 and 21 at The Santa Fe Women’s Club, 1616 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe, New Mexico map .  This is very exciting as there are many new works which have never been seen in Santa Fe before.