Arranging An Art-Filled Home Is A Sweet Fit For Sculptor And Ikebana Practitioner
by Carolyn Comeau
“Steven Forbes-deSoule is a celebrated Raku sculptor — highly accomplished in the American form of the Japanese art, where the vessel is removed from the hot kiln and placed in combustible materials. His wife Lynn Powell Forbes, a retired Buncombe County Schools ESL specialist, is a master of the Japanese art of flower arrangement known as ikebana (she is president of the Asheville chapter of WNC Ikebana International).”
Raku pottery incorporates elements of knowledge, experience, excitement, unpredictability, and spontaneity, and is somewhat akin to a semi-controlled convergence of science, craft, art, and magic with a bit of chaos thrown in for good measure. Come see a colorful variety of Western-style work by a number of North Carolina's Raku potters from across the state and learn more about the making of Raku.
I just completed firing 25 pieces for a new commission from Art and Associates in Atlanta, Georgia. It will be installed in the new DCCU headquarters in Atlanta. This bottle is one of the pieces which features my Space Rock glaze.
I will be hosting a Raku Workshop in Highlands, NC at The Bascom's Dave Drake Studio Barn entitled "Fire and Smoke, the Art of Raku" from June 26-30, 2017.
If you are interested, please contact The Bascom Center for the Visual Arts at:
828-526-4949 323 Franklin Road Highlands, NC 28741
"Gazing at the free form patterns and natural colours of a raku pottery finish is like looking at the colourful atmosphere of a mysterious world. Steven Forbes deSoule raku pieces are no exception and present exotic vistas that invite wonderful intrigue. He introduces more green and blue hues, in addition to the typical earthy reds and orange raku colours, in the reduction process to enhance the colour diversity. He uses the raku standard of a steel rubbish bin for a reduction chamber, which I always view as a fantastic irony, relative to the glorious outcomes from raku firing. Steven Forbes deSoule has been a successful raku pottery artist for over 37 years, creating unique, hand made vessels and sculptures, while finding endless ways to manipulate the oxygen, gases and glazes during the raku reduction technique, to achieve a myriad of attractive outcomes. His intricate firing process and use of his own glazes and underglazes, with multiple firings, leads to ‘one of a kind pieces’ displaying beautiful enriched colours and textures. “The one constant with my work throughout the years has been transformation. I find it fun and challenging to try new things, and I especially enjoy developing new glazes. I started firing exclusively using the raku process in 1982 and found the element of serendipity and surprise to be invigorating.”"
