Volcanos. Perhaps no other force on Earth yields the combined  power of destruction and creation. Land rises from the sea. Mountains form where there were none. They are the source of myth and lore for cultures all around the globe. Quite possibly no more so than the island nation of Japan; a nation built entirely on a chain of volcanos, or "Kazan". The practice of raku is heavily rooted in the Japanese tea ceremony. This series is my homage to both the history of an art form that has given so much to me, and the nation it was born in.  
 
     This has been fired using the raku process. The ware is taken up to a temperature around 1800 degrees, where it is then removed from the kiln and placed in a container of combustibles. The red hot vessel ignites the material instantly, where it burns fiercely until suffocated by covering the container. This abrubt stoppage leads to an oxygen starved, 'reduction' atmosphere in the can. This atmosphere is what leads to the color blooms in the glazes, while any unglazed clay carbonizes into rich blacks and greys.  This vessel has a 
 
This vessel is 9.5"w X 6.5"h