Editing Raku ware (section)

==Western raku ==
[[File:Edt.jpg|thumb|[[Eva Díaz Torres|Eva Diaz Torres]] at work]]
[[Bernard Leach]] is credited with bringing Raku to the west. In 1911 he attended a party where he witnessed raku firing.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.leachpottery.com/history |access-date=2023-03-20 |website=The Leach Pottery |language=en-GB}}</ref> This was his first experience of ceramics. Although he continued to experiment with raku firing for a few years following his return to England in 1920, the technique was largely forgotten after the 1930s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=andreamartinazaghi |date=2021-11-22 |title=Raku Firing - the past and the present of the incredible Japanese ceramics technique |url=https://www.calliopemadrid.com/post/raku-firing-the-past-and-the-present-of-the-incredible-japanese-ceramics-technique |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=Calliope gallery |language=en}}</ref> 

Raku became popular with American potters in the late 1950s with the help of [[Paul Soldner]]. Americans kept the general firing process, that is, heating the pottery quickly to high temperatures and cooling it quickly, but continued to form their own unique style of raku.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rob Wheeler - East Anglian Potter |url=https://www.robwheelerpotter.com/raku |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=www.robwheelerpotter.com |language=en}}</ref>

Raku's unpredictable results and intense color attracts modern potters. These patterns and color result from the harsh cooling process and the amount of oxygen that is allowed to reach the pottery. Depending on what effect the artist wants, the pottery is either instantly cooled in water, cooled slowly in the open air, or placed in a barrel filled with combustible material, such as newspaper, covered, and allowed to smoke.<ref name="Branfman">{{cite book|title=Raku: A Practical Approach|last=Branfman|first=Steven|publisher=krause publications|year=2001|location=United States|pages=17}}</ref> Water immediately cools the pottery, stopping the chemical reactions of the glaze and fixing the colors. The combustible material produces smoke, which stains the unglazed portions of the pottery black. The amount of oxygen that is allowed during the firing and cooling process affects the color of the resultant glaze and the amount of crackle.

Unlike traditional Japanese raku, which is mainly hand-built bowls of modest design, western raku tends to be vibrant in color, and comes in many shapes and sizes. Western raku can be anything from an elegant vase to an eccentric abstract sculpture. Although some do hand build, most western potters use throwing wheels while creating their raku piece. Western culture has even created a new sub-branch of raku called [[horse hair raku]], pieces that are often white with squiggly black lines and smoke-like smudges. These effects are created by placing horse hair, feathers, or even sugar on the pottery as it is removed from the kiln and still extremely hot.

Western raku artists include the French ceramist [[Claude Champy]], who received the Suntory Museum Grand Prix; [[Jane Malvisi]], a British artist making raku figurines,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.janemalvisi.co.uk/|title=Jane Malvisi|website=www.janemalvisi.co.uk|access-date=2015-11-05}}</ref> [[Alicja Buławka-Fankidejska]] at the [[Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk]];<ref name="rothkocenter2021">{{cite web |date=2021 |title=Martinsons Award 2021 |url=https://www.rothkocenter.com/en/ekspozicija/martinsons-award-2021/ |access-date=26 December 2021 |publisher=Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre}}</ref> artist [[Eva Díaz Torres]] introduced the practice to Uruguay.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=3 August 2018 |title=Muestra póstuma trae a Montevideo obras de la nieta española de Torres García |url=https://www.eleconomistaamerica.com/cultura-eAm/noticias/8989820/03/18/Muestra-postuma-trae-a-Montevideo-obras-de-la-nieta-espanola-de-Torres-Garcia.html |website=El Economista America |language=es}}</ref>
<gallery widths="200px" heights="180px">
File:Horsehair Vase Judge's Special Award Mashiko 2006 Swanica Ligtenberg.jpg|Pot with an example of horsehair raku technique. The vessel was taken out of the kiln at 732 Celsius and horsehair applied on, which burned into it.
File:Colorful Handmade Raku Pottery Pitcher.jpg|Made by Ruthann Hurwitz (The Village Potter) in the Western style of Raku. It was built with the coil and pinch method, glazed, then fired. It was removed from the 1800 degree kiln while red hot and placed into containers with combustibles, then covered where reduction takes place, "smoking" the pottery.
</gallery>