Raku with Randall Reid & Crew

Randall Reid has been throwing and firing his ceramic sculptures and pots, in MoonTown, his Kelly Avenue studio, since 1978. Randall has been a fixture of the emerging Coastside arts scene for all of those 45 years. He was a 3-time president of the Coastal Arts League, and worked with the original group to create Made on the Coast, a special area dedicated to local artists during the annual Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival, and all along taught hundreds of people the craft and delight of working with clay.

Randall and his incredible crew of mud slingers and firebugs will demonstrate Raku firing, an ancient Japanese ceramics technique that has been used for many centuries to create a unique finish. Glazed ceramics are taken from the kiln while they are still glowing red hot, and are then placed in a container with materials such as wood chips, sawdust or newspaper which catch fire easily, resulting in a myriad of fantastic colors and textures within the glaze. 

The finished pieces of a Raku firing are always a surprise, beckoning the potter into the mystery and serendipity of its' process.