PJRoderer

Manassas, Virginia

Current interest is firing with horsehair. Some people like to call this Raku, but having spent several years concentrating in Raku, I cannot agree with them. To me Raku is not Raku unless it has glaze, after all it is the glaze that crackles and absorbs the smoke to enhance the crackle. Or the glaze takes on an irridescence that is achieved in the post firing. Without glaze I cannot consider it Raku.

My horsehair pieces are not glazed, instead they are burnished to a soft satin finish using terra sigallata and bisqued fired. In the second firing I burn the horsehair onto the surface of the piece and sometimes spray it with ferric chloride to turn the white clay orange.

I currently share a studio with five other ceramic artists at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia, and samples of my work can be seen on the Factory website www.torpedofactory.org. Just click on the tab "ceramics" and scroll down until you see my name.

Because I have a full-time job Mon thru Fri I cannot spend as much time as I would like on my ceramics. I'm waiting until I can retire and then hope to spend all my time on my artistic interests which inlcude sculpture, painting and drawing.