Raku, Renewed

Setting in motion a new spin on the potter’s wheel

By Willona M. Sloan

Camarillo throws upside down to strengthen the vessel’s bottom. Courtesy of Frank Ruggles

For Ramon Camarillo, “My passion is art.”

As an artist in residence at Lee Arts Center in Arlington, Camarillo is recognized as one of the most innovative artists making raku-style pottery in the nation. But, as a teenager growing up in Hawaii, the last thing he thought he would become was a professional artist.

In the 1980s, Camarillo took a couple classes at a community college. “Some of the best potters on Oahu were there,” he said. “They were doing raku firing, and I said, Wow! I got immediately interested in that.”

The raku technique originated in Japan as a process for making special tea-ceremony vessels. The art form is still practiced in Japan today, but as Western artists adopted the style of ceramic art, the techniques evolved overseas.

Camarillo explained that Western-style raku firing process involves placing vessels in a specially constructed kiln that fires to about 1800 F, then immediately transferring them to a pit in the ground or a metal garbage can containing combustible materials, such as leaves or wood, for about 10 to 15 minutes. The fire and smoke create unexpected results such as “luster and crackled, smoky and swirling finishes in a variety of textures and colors.” Each work is a spontaneous experiment.

When Camarillo discovered raku, he was hooked. What teenage boy doesn’t want to play with fire? But despite the interest, he instead buckled down and earned an MBA with an eye toward working in finance. In 1996, when he was unable to find work in the industry in Hawaii, Camarillo moved to Northern Virginia upon his sister’s urging and found work at a bank where she was living. He also began teaching workshops at Lee Arts Center. “I was one of the few people doing raku pottery in the area,” Camarillo said. After entering several contests and participating in local juried exhibitions, he decided it might be possible to make a go of it as a professional artist.

Camarillo’s work mixes the techniques he learned in both Hawaii and on the East Coast. When he relocated to Northern Virginia, he only brought a few glazes with him and has since learned to work magic with those colors, creating spectacular combinations, he explained. Also, Camarillo said, in Hawaii, potters don’t use water to shape their pots, as potters here do, and tend to throw much larger pieces. “I might be the only one throwing 25-pound pots in Northern Virginia.”

Camarillo, who teaches workshops all over the U.S., raves about working with artists at the Lee Arts Center who both challenge him and inspire his work.

“We have a lot of potters from all over the world. The diversity of artists here is amazing. We can share and steal ideas from each other and share influences.”

The ever-optimistic artist and ukulele player (he jams with the Hawaiian band Aloha Boys) may not yet have made it big, but seems pretty pleased with how things have worked out thus far. “I am not as rich as I probably might have been if I had stuck with the bank job—but you have to follow your passion.”

For more on Camarillo, visit www.ramoncamarillo.com.

(December 2008)

Tags: art, Entertainment, Fine arts, Lights, pottery