Charlie and Linda Riggs Workshop
Naked Raku & Alternative Firings - October 28-30, 2011
Charlie and Linda Riggs will lead us fearlessly into a fun three-day workshop filled with smoke, fire, and fumes!
Participants will learn how to get great results with a variety of alternative firing processes including saggar firing, iron fuming, horsehair firing, and two types of naked raku. We will fire many loads of participant's pots in these atmospheres where the smoke and chemicals produce the final surface colors. The results will vary from the rich deep reds and oranges of saggar and ferric chloride firings to the high contrast black & whites of naked raku.
Charlie and Linda place special emphasis on super-smooth surfaces created by polishing with white terra sigillata. Participants will prepare their own pots (burnished with terra sig) and saggar containers for firing in advance of the workshop. While the results of atmospheric firings cannot be controlled, we will learn ways of influencing serendipity to achieve our desires.
The workshop will also include demonstrations of throwing & smoothing, making terra sigillata, polishing with terra sigillata, and more. Charlie and Linda are an incredible team with a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to share!
Class size 16.
Free to the public
October 28-30, 2011
10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Charlie and Linda Riggs Bio
Charles has a Fine Arts Degree in Pottery. He has been featured in Clay Times, Ceramics Monthly, and Studio Potter as well as in several raku and alternative firing books. Charlie has exhibited extensively in the Southeast, the Western US, and as far away as Canada and Norway. He also teaches workshops throughout the US and Canada in a variety of subjects including, Raku Methods, Saggar-firing, Pit-Firing, Raku Kiln Building, and Throwing Techniques.
Linda has Masters in Anthropology. She collaborates with Charlie to create some of the unique surfaces on their pottery including saggar-firing, naked raku, and carvings and slip designs. Linda has written a number of articles on pottery for Ceramics Monthly and Clay Times. She is also featured in magazine articles on saggar firing, and in several books. She co-teaches workshops with her husband Charlie.
Linda Riggs Artist Statement
"I am motivated by the beauty of the natural world and by ancient cultures. Low-fire fuming and naked raku techniques create clay surfaces that resemble smooth rocks with organic patterns. The techniques also utilize the same ingredients and processes as ancient cultures resulting in a continuity of time both in the forms and in the creative process."
Charlie Riggs Artist Statement
“When I work, I like to think about the dynamic of opposites, order and chaos; dark and light. I throw forms that are precise and tight, many of which mirror the spheres and ovals of the natural world.
In contrast, the glazing and firing methods are spontaneous and sometimes unpredictable. There is a particular joy in using this method of creation: the beauty of the controlled form is transcended by the patterns of serendipity and bright flows of glaze jump out at you from a dark background. Life is always full of surprises.”
