What was first developed as ceremonial tea ware for Zen Buddhist Masters in the 16th century, raku pottery was originally prized in its simplicity and its intentional avoidance of opulence, both of which were important to the Zen philosophy. The word "raku" conveys the enjoyment of freedom and thus raku pottery was intentionally built without function or utility.
As a low-fired style of pottery, it is within these subtleties that Zen Masters found the evasive, yet robust beauty of raku pottery and it is this beauty that is its only worth. It is believed that the spirit of the maker is incorporated into the raku shape and is therefore revealed naked (unglazed) at the foot of each pottery piece.
As a low-fired style of pottery, it is within these subtleties that Zen Masters found the evasive, yet robust beauty of raku pottery and it is this beauty that is its only worth. It is believed that the spirit of the maker is incorporated into the raku shape and is therefore revealed naked (unglazed) at the foot of each pottery piece.
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My ceramics career started in 1975, when I resigned from my corporate job and decided to return to college at Georgia State University in Atlanta. I just happened to take a pottery class and the rest is history. I received my Master of Visual Arts and Ceramics in 1980, built a studio in my home in Atlanta and started making pots and sculpture.
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Steven Forbes-deSoule is a celebrated Raku sculptor - highly accomplished in the American form of the Japanese art, where the vessel is removed from the hot kiln and placed in combustible materials. His wife Lynn Powell Forbes, a retired Buncombe County Schools ESL specialist, is a master of the Japanese art of flower arrangement known as ikebana (she is president of the Asheville chapter of WNC Ikebana International).
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