Raku Day
and Open House at The Fine Line

JUNE 10 | RAKU PREVIEW NIGHT | 5 - 8:30 PM

Join us Friday for Preview Night and get first pick of bisque ware (fired once and unglazed) pottery. Purchase a $40 ticket and receive a $15 coupon toward the purchase of unglazed pottery. Glaze your piece with the help of our potters.

While you wait for your piece to be fired enjoy a picnic dinner, view finished Fine Line pottery that’s for sale, stroll our grounds, view our Art 2011 Exhibit in the Kavanagh Gallery, browse our Dempsey Gallery, shop in our Fine Line Yarn shop and visit with friends.

 

JUNE 11 | RAKU DAY | 9 AM - 3 PM
This is a great outdoor fun day for everyone!

 

Can’t make Preview Night? Join us on Saturday to experience the ancient art of Japanese Raku (pronounced rah-koo), a unique firing process. Raku is a philosophy, an attitude and a technique. This technique was developed and used by Japanese potters for making tea ceremony wares. We, in a way, have Americanized it into being more of a happening.

Hosted by our Fine Line potters, the Fine Line Creative Arts Center in St. Charles, Illinois invites the public to explore Raku and all they have to offer on Saturday, June 11, 2011 from 9 AM 3 PM. Your day begins by purchasing a bisque (fired once) piece of pottery, experiencing the magic of glazing it and watching it being fired.

Our potters offer a huge variety of objects—vases, bowls, plates, containers, etc. at very reasonable prices, ready to be glazed. You buy your piece and then proceed to the
glazing table where you can glaze it yourself or with a potter’s help.

After glazing, the piece is put into one of the outdoor raku kilns. You can enjoy watching your pot being fired in a small gas fueled kiln. After the kiln gets up to the proper temperature, the glowing molten pot is removed with tongs and placed onto a bed of sawdust and covered with a metal container filled with shredded newsprint. It will flame and smoke and sputter for a bit while the glazes will continue to oxidize. This is the magic time. With raku, even the most experienced potters are never quite sure how the pot will turn out. When the pot is removed from this chamber it is cooled down in a bath of cool water. Then you get to wash and scrub it with an SOS pad to enhance its luster.

If you’re not familiar with the Raku technique, the glazes and color textures of the finished piece are very unusual. There are copper glazes, deep reds, olivey greens and rich blues. There’s also a white glaze that changes to a crackly finish once it's fired. As each person’s pot is taken from the sawdust bed all you hear are oohs and ahhs. The colors and textures are extraordinary. The RESULT is a RAKU TREASURE for you to KEEP. In its finished state, a raku piece is porous and more delicate than stoneware or porcelain. Your vessel is not meant to hold water or to be used for food. If you leave your vessel in bright sunlight for long periods of time, its bright colors may have a tendency to fade.

 

 

OPEN HOUSE

Enjoy our open house while waiting for your piece to be fired. Purchase a completed pottery piece or other art work for that special person in your life celebrating a birthday, shower, wedding or anniversary. View our Art 2011 Exhibit in the Kavanagh Gallery. This exhibit showcases the work that has been created at The Fine Line during the year. See what’s new in our Dempsey Gallery or visit the Fine Line Shop.

Try your hand at dyeing, papermaking, spinning, weaving, crochet, painting or other Fine Line activities. There’s plenty to do and plenty to see.

Bring the kids to see all the magic and participate in the fun. And for the hungry hearted, hotdogs, cookies, snacks, and beverages are available for purchase.