Peru hosts Raku pottery project for area schools

PERU | Over 100 students from four schools worked together on a gray fall day Tuesday to make art. Their lively banter and creative chatter kept the one corner of the school field outside quite warm. There were tables with clay for making cats, Raku firing kilns and cooling pots, an enameling table and areas to sit together and work. The kids learned about the unique chemistry of Raku glaze, its metallic base and why the fired pots crackle and shine. The project came to be through the efforts of Peru Central School instructors Erik Wilson and colleagues Greg Badger and Tracey Trombley. It grew out of a Raku pottery class started several years ago by Dean DeLano, who now teaches art at Beekmantown Central. Together, instructors from around the region brought together art and art club kids from Peru, Beekmantown, AuSable Valley and Saranac Lake schools. There's a kind of magic that happens when Raku glaze is heated past 1,200 degrees. It oxidizes, Wilson explained of the method they used, adapted from the ancient Japanese Raku process that fires in upwards five, six or seven days. This method shortens the time needed to cure the glaze to under an hour. "It's simplified to produce similar results," Wilson said. "The kids made and glazed their work when they got here, we had already purchased two Raku glazes, white crackle and a metallic." With a copper base, the metallic glaze turned a warm green with the heat. The crackle white finished to look like antique crockery. A sooty residue from the fire was rinsed from each piece after it cooled. But pulling them out of the kiln drew a crowd of curious kids. They wanted to see the transformation in color and texture. Coral Brown, of Saranac Lake, made a cereal bowl. "I was trying to make a vase, but I was getting annoyed with it," she said. "It was a problem with the height. But I learned about patience," she allowed. "And I learned a lot about the different kinds of glazes and how it oxidizes. It was cool to come here and learn so much." Her instructor, Fine Arts Teacher Angela Trumbower, brought 22 students over from Saranac Lake, 10 to 12th graders who are in ceramics classes or working on senior portfolios. Lucy Thill, a senior at Saranac Lake High School, was pretty thrilled to see the colors blend in her spiral-coiled bowl. "I thought this was amazing," she said. "I've never seen Raku fired in real life before, though we've watched documentary videos about how it works." For Peru senior Olivia Nichols, Art Honor Society president, it was grand having different schools join in for a big art project. "It's great how simple things can bring us together," she said. "I mean, all of these people express themselves individually in different ways and yet here we are doing this all together." At the cats table, students spent time sculpting felines out of clay. Their imaginations worked wonders to curl tails and point ears. Trombley said their hand-sized sculptures will be fired and glazed to be sold at the Chapter One Cats Art Sale in Plattsburgh in December. Monies raised will go to the Elmore SPCA and local feral cat programs. For Trombley, who teaches pottery at Peru, the day was inspiring. "We have well over 100 kids, and everyone has been busy doing different things." Amelia Gervais, an 8th grader from Beekmantown, was working on enameling tiny copper circles for earrings with her friend and schoolmate Bella Potter. The powder they used is made out of glass. As they heated it, hues mixed and melted into the copper. "This is a lot of fun," Bella said, watching pink and hints of blue come alive in the fire. "The Raku was fun." For Mr. DeLano, bringing students from Beekmantown was a chance to expand on Raku lessons he started four years ago. It's part art, part chemistry and all hands on. "I'm really glad they invited us," he said. "We were able to get the kids outside, out from behind the desks and tables." Ausable Valley students from the Arts Enrichment Club attended with their teachers, Rebecca Conklin and Jennifer Shutts. Students worked on their art from about 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. Wilson, who coordinated the lesson plan with art instructors from each school, said the day was meant to inspire. It had two important ingredients beyond methods and art supplies: fun and fire. "We planned a bunch of different projects at the same time. Bringing these kids together is its own lesson and is not about competition. It gives them a chance to socialize and meet new people," Wilson summed. The art teachers hope to carry their Raku tradition forward into the future.

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Peru hosts Raku pottery project for area schools

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