Raku Festival in Hawai'i

Founded by Hawai'i Craftsmen in 1977, The Raku Ho'olau'lea is a 4-day pottery firing campout on O'ahu with the energy of a festival. The event focuses on the Japanese raku technique, which involves pulling glazed ceramics out from the kiln while they are still glowing red hot and then alchemizing them with different materials to create striking effects.

The event is a sight to behold at night. 10 campsites in a row, each aglow with headlights and flames. Behind each tent stands a group huddled around their kiln, lifting glowing pots in awe.

On the North Shore of O'ahu, 300 potters gathered on a beachside, pulling pots out of flaming kilns from 9 am to midnight.

This year, our guest facilitators were Randy Brodnax and Don Ellis, aka, the Albert Einsteins of Clay. Randy and Don were a pair of cheery, rugged potters with thick Southern accents and the banter of an old married couple. They told us of the habits that make them great artists; such as stealing the kitchen blender to mix clay, and doing whatever they want without permission. Randy and Don were the sort of artists who knew that their piece was going to look kickass before they'd even made it.

Randy has an insane process for making these fish pots. Holding the pot in one hand and a wax pencil in the other, he swims out into the ocean, weighs himself to the ocean floor, and with a hose in his mouth to breathe air, crumbles vienna sausage down his shirt and allows himself to be swarmed by fish while he tries to haphazardly sketch the shapes and movements he sees onto his pot.

He wanted to bring some warmer tones onto his finished piece through raku firing. You can see that in the before and after pictures below. Randy also makes 3-legged frogs that bring good luck & fortune.

In the morning after their demonstration, people everywhere were holding newly fired pots. Some pots had cracked while others presented theirs in excitement, and everyone across the entire event was full of intrigue.

I left the festival on Sunday with a trunk full of pots that had been fired in dog food, banana peels, Miracle Grow™ fertiliser, dirt, horse hair and bread yeast. Who would've thought I'd use those in pottery? The Ho'olau'lea was a reminder of the endless exploration there is within art.

To end with a quote from Randy that left the potters in applause:

"If you're passionate about it, then do it. And by golly, if you work hard enough and long enough at it, then it will work for you."