Wally Asselberghs Workshop

"Exploring Naked Raku"

Wally Asselberghs will journey from Belgium to lead an intense exploration of the theory and practice of "naked raku," a technique he has specialized in since 1995. Participants will experience this raku-based process which uses sacrificial slip and glaze layers as catalysts to capture patterns and surface textures left behind by smoke and fire. Wally will present the basic naked raku approach, and also encourage participants to experiment with splashed and diluted glazes for more sophisticated effects.

Participants will apply slip and glaze to their previously bisque-fired work, then fire in a standard raku kiln. Works will be reduced in a post-fire smoke chamber and allowed to cool. The cooling slip and glaze crack, allowing smoke to penetrate underneath creating shading, specks, and irregular crack patterns. The egg-shell layer of slip and glaze is peeled and scrubbed off, revealing the smoke effects bonded to the bare clay. This process, different from using a traditional white crackle glaze, yields infinitely more varied results ranging from bold lightning patterns to soft, subtle speckling…often on the same piece.

Class size 15.

Wally Asselberghs Artist Bio

Wally Asselberghs received his ceramic training during 12 years of classes at Art Academy in Antwerpen, Belgium, completed by various private workshops in Belgium, France and Holland. He has been working in clay for more than 25 years, with an original emphasis on stoneware ash glazes and Western Raku.

After his first initiation in "Naked Raku" in 1995, he decided to fully specialize in this technique. In 1998 he began organizing and teaching workshops in Belgium. In April 2003, he was invited by Linda and Charles Riggs to teach two workshops in their studio in North Carolina. Participants were trained in the Riggs "slip-resist" technique, and Wally's 'Slip and glaze" method.

An article about these sessions appeared in the July 2003 issue "Clay Times" magazine. The following year, he returned to the US to host workshops in Phoenix and Tucson, and presented his technique during the opening lecture at the "Ceramic Sculpture Conference" in Davis, California.

A photograph of his work was selected for the recent Lark Book "Alternative Kilns and Firing Techniques", which also published his slip formula in the recipe section. Wally continues to show in exhibits and teach workshops throughout Europe and North America. In 2006 he won a Purchase Award at the International Orton Cone Box Show.

While his original emphasis was on wheelthrown vases and bowls, his more recent work is made by combining coiling techniques and molded concave plates. In these organic objects, he tries to find a visual language in which his favorite forms -- animal, human body, rocks, marks left by forces of wind and water -- are reduced to their utmost essence and purity.

Wally is also the creator and moderator of an "International Naked Raku Forum" on the Internet, started on Yahoo five years ago for freely sharing recipes, photographs and ideas. The forum now has 640 members in 33 countries worldwide.

Wally Asselberghs Resume

Ceramic Education

1977: throwing course at "Sfinx", Boechout, Belgium (by Geert v.d. Borcht).

1978-1980: education ceramics, Art Academy Hoboken, Belgium (by Hugo Rabaey).

1980: 2-week workshop wheelthrowing in Banon, France.

1985-1990: specialisation: throwing, Art Academy Hoboken, Belgium (by Hugo Rabaey).

1995: 3-day workshop 'Talking Fire', Genk-Waterschei, Belgium (by Margot Spiegel).

1995-2002: specialisation: sculptural ceramics /glass, Art Academy Berchem, Belgium.

Events

2007 November: Exhibition at Panta Rei Art Gallery, Brugge, Belgium.

Website: www.kunsthuispantarei.com

2007 March: Orton Cone Box Show, NCECA, Louisville (Kentucky, USA).

2007 March: Clayart NCECA exhibition 'Cyberclay', Mellwood Arts gallery, Louisville

(Kentucky, USA).

2007 April: Workshop at Mudfire Pottery Center, Atlanta (Georgia, USA).

2007 June: Workshop at 'La Magie du Tour', Ottignies, Belgium.

2006 August: Publication in 'Fired up with Raku' by Irene Poulton, p98-103, Perth (Australia).

2006 May: Workshops at Robinson Studio, Etterbeek, Brussels, Belgium.

2006 May: Publication in 'the Gallery', in ceramics magazine Clay Times.

2006 May: Workshop at Desert Dragon Pottery, Phoenix (Arizona, USA).

2006 April: Workshop at The Five Elements Studio, Dallas (Texas, USA).

2006 April: Orton Cone Box Show, expo at Baker University, Baldwin City (Kansas, USA).

2006 March: Orton Cone Box Show, expo NCECA, Portland (Oregon, USA).

2006 February: Purchase Award, International Orton Cone Box Show 2006, Kansas (USA).

2006 January: Expo Ktuna at St-Joris Chapel, Brasschaat, Belgium.

2005 November: Expo at Art Gallery 100, Antwerpen, Belgium.

2005 April: Workshop at Hambidge Art Center, Dillard (Georgia, USA).

2005 April: Workshop at Clay Planet, San José (California, USA).

2004 May: International biannual ceramic exposition, Brasschaat, Belgium.

2004 May: Expo "pushing the limits", Tsao gallery Davis art center (California, USA).

2004 May: Lecture "Naked Raku" at Ceramic Conference in Davis (California, USA).

2004 April: Publication in 'Alternative Kilns & Firing Techniques' (Larkbooks, USA).

2004 April: Workshop in Tucson, Green Valley (Arizona, USA).

2004 April: Workshop in Phoenix (Arizona, USA).

2004 March: Expo Begijnhof Lier, Belgium.

2003 August: Naked Raku demonstration "Thalens-Zoute-Concours", Knokke, Belgium.

2003 April: Workshops in Riggs Clay Studio Carthage (North Carolina, USA).

2003 May: Expo with "Fine Arts guild", Castle of Schoten, Belgium.

2003 July: Publication 'Naked Raku Flemish Style' in ceramics magazine Clay Times.

2002 July: Naked Raku demonstration 'Thalens-Zoute-Concours', Knokke, Belgium.

2002 November: Expo '6ofuS', Kapellen, Belgium.

2002: Selection 'Keramisto 2000', Milsbeek, The Netherlands.

2000: International biannual ceramic exposition, Brasschaat, Belgium.

2000: Final selection functional ceramics 'Art Price ceramics 2000', Heist-op-den-Berg, Belgium.