Press Release - July 7, 2006 - Summer Raku Workshop
Exciting Opportunity for Ceramists: Summer Raku Workshop at Brookline Arts Center
The Brookline Arts Center will be offering a workshop in Raku Pottery on Friday, August 18th, 2006 from 10:00am - 6:00pm. The workshop will be held in conjunction with the Potters School in Needham MA.
Raku is an ancient firing technique developed by Korean potters under Japanese rule in the 16th century. The process begins with glazing the Pottery, then placing it in a low fire kiln and quickly raising the temperature. Once the glaze reaches maturity the pottery is pulled from the kiln at its highest temperature and placed in an alternative drying process, which can be dipping pottery in water, burying it in combustible materials for smoking, or allowing it to air dry. It is this alternative drying process that creates the exciting and unexpected patterns, colors and textures on the pottery's surface.
The workshop will consist of a one-hour informative lecture and glazing, then five hours of raku firings. Participants will experience this invigorating art firsthand, doing their own glazing, pulling the pots from a hot kiln and choosing a drying method.
Participants will need three medium sized bisque ceramic pots. The pots can be made off site or at the Brookline Arts Center in one of their many wheelthrowing classes. The workshop costs $65.00 for non-members and $58.00 for members. For answers to questions, or to register for this workshop call 617-566-5715. The Brookline Arts Center web site is www.brooklineartscenter.com.
As community art center, the Brookline Arts Center has offered art classes to children and adults taught by professional artists for 42 years. The BAC also enriches its course offerings with free art exhibitions by regional artists and special visual arts events. Support for the programs at the Brookline Arts Center include the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Brookline Commission for the Arts and the Brookline Community Fund.
About the BAC: The Brookline Arts Center began 42 years ago in the basement of a Brookline home and in 1968 moved to its present home, a former firehouse, at 86 Monmouth Street. The BAC was recently presented with a Brookline Preservation Award for their use and upkeep of the historic Victorian firehouse. The Brookline Arts Center also provides free art classes for low-income populations through scholarships and the ARTreach program, in which free art classes are offered at Brookline Housing Authority buildings.
For more information, visit www.brooklineartscenter.com or email bac@brooklineartscenter.com.