Dolce Raku

I love clay. I love working with clay, playing with clay and also decorating with clay. I use the

same materials that potters have been using for millennia. My work is inspired by the museum

pieces found throughout Greece where form, function and decoration are all part of the same

aesthetic.

I created this body of work during the first lockdown, from March to May of 2020. I was in the

privileged position where I could work all day in my studio without any interruptions. I was

scheduled to have an exhibit in the Museum of Modern Ceramic Art in Athens in October so my

creative endeavors were focused on making a body of work for that show. Each piece grew

organically from the previous one. At first I started with very round smooth pots which were

burnished to a high sheen and then airbrushed with my own specially prepared red terra

sigillata. This red color comes from an old clay quarry which was used to make bricks 50 years

ago located just a short walk from my house in Lakkia. Slowly the pieces evolved and soon

handles were added and then the female forms were embellished with decoration.

Once the piece is made and fired in my electric kiln to 980 degrees C, I take it outside to be fired

in the gas fired raku kiln. Each pot is removed with special tongs and placed into a container

with sawdust so that the whole piece will combust and burst into flame. The white burnished

clay will absorb the carbon from the smoke while the finer red clay particles will darken but

remain red. This whole process and the end result is what we call Dolce Raku.