Gallery to feature raku, 'smoke ware' pottery

Spontaneity is, of course, an uncertain thing in the art world. It can lead to blindingly brilliant flashes of beauty and creativity, or it can totally destroy a perfectly orchestrated project.

Harnessing the power of surprise is what lies behind the beauty of a Japanese pottery technique that has grown quite popular in recent years -- raku.

"You really can't control what's going to happen," said Linda Bohnsack, owner of the Garden Gallery. "The artist never has to worry about being copied, because each piece is totally unique. It can't be copied."

Throughout February the raku works of Farmington, Mo., potter and artist Ron Aubuchon will be on display at the Garden Gallery, located above the Grace Cafe on Broadway.

"This is something I really haven't seen much around here," said Bohnsack, who knows Aubuchon from their days as students at Southeast Missouri State University in the 1970s. "Raku is getting much more popular, and I'd like to introduce it to the people in the area, especially from a great local artist."

Even though he's been "throwing pots" for 33 years, Aubuchon is fairly new to the art of making raku, but his work looks like that of someone familiar with the tricky technique.

"I've been making stoneware pots for many years, but the raku is just a recent development within the last year," he said.

That was when he bought a special raku kiln in order to teach students in his pottery classes, and fell in love with the art.

"It's just the unlimited possibilities and the unpredictability of the pottery that you get from it," he said. "When I was doing stoneware you'd could put a piece in the kiln, put a brown glaze on it and you'd get the piece out and it's a nice brown pot. It's just kind of like Christmas every morning when you do raku, you never know what you'll get."

Raku dates back to 17th century Japan and is known worldwide as a unique way of forming pottery. Pots are glazed with special glazes containing metallic materials, such as copper, then fired at about 1800 degrees Fahrenheit and taken out of the kiln red-hot.

The pot is then placed in a container with a combustible substance, which reduces the glaze on the pot. "The combustible material uses up all the oxygen in the can," said Aubuchon, "then the fire starts looking for more oxygen so it starts looking for the oxygen in the glaze."

The result of the process is a piece that looks almost as if it came from an archaeological dig, complete with small fissures and other subtle design nuances, like coppery surfaces.

Another style of Aubuchon's pottery he refers to as "Smoke Ware," also called horsehair, will be on display at the gallery. With this type of pottery, the pot is fired to about 1500 degrees, then hair is placed on it to create designs.

"They usually use horsehair, but I like a finer line, so I use my wife's hair," said Aubuchon. "When you put the hair on there it just sizzles."

The hair creates patterns of squiggly lines that can take the appearance of everything from chaotic waves to rivers on a typographical map.

"There's no two pots exactly alike when you're doing the raku or the smoke technique, either way," Aubuchon said.

An opening reception for Aubuchon and other featured artists will be held Friday from noon to 9 p.m. at the gallery.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, ext. 182