Ceramics-Mrs. Cream: The Burlington Exchange - Raku firing with Northern Burlington County Regional High School

Raku is an advanced glaze firing technique which uses the reduction process. In most high schools it is the art teacher who typically fires an electric kiln. Students are rarely involved in this process because it is executed over many hours during the school day. What makes the Raku practice innovative is that ceramic students are able to execute the entire process, and are present at the moment the pots emerge from the firing to critique the results. This is an exciting and enriching opportunity for high school students, and this experience is inspiring for all who witness it, due to the immediacy of this firing process and the spectacular results typical of Raku pottery. The ceramic student, who is a creator of Raku pottery, leaves the firing experience with an enthusiasm for many exciting potentialities for future artwork.
This year, Ms. Kirchner, ceramics teacher from Northern Burlington County Regional High School, participated in a firing with her advanced class. These students took a field trip to BTHS and were paired up with ten of our Ceramics 2/3 students. BTHS students helped facilitate a Raku firing along with myself and Ms. Kirchner. This provided the advanced Ceramics students the opportunity to take a leadership role in the creation and teaching of Raku ceramic art, as well as demonstrate their understanding of the Raku process.