During the two weeks following Memorial Day, most Newark Academy Upper School students in grades 9-11 enroll in an intensive learning course known as “June Term.”
One such course is the “Art of Raku Firing.”
A June Term course does more than simply inform students; it involves them from start to finish. Through hands-on experiences, students grapple with challenging ideas, make connections between concepts and reality, make mistakes, and learn from them. Many courses involve field trips and guest speakers. All June Term courses result in a distinctive final product or project, allowing students to synthesize what they have learned and to put it into practice.
“The Art of Ceramic Raku Firing” taught by Arts Department Chair Elaine Brodie is a unique experience. According to Ms. Brodie, “Raku is an exciting process with its spontaneous immediacy and its delicate blend of control and experimentation. Students created hand built and thrown pieces using a special clay body and glazes. The work was heated in an outdoor kiln in a rapid firing cycle. The pieces were removed from the kiln as it reached a very high temperature with metal tongs. The hot pieces were then placed into combustible materials in order to alter and enhance the surface.” Enjoy these beautiful ceramics from the 2016 June Term class.
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