Terry Crook
I have been a ceramic artist for over 50 yrs. In addition to high fire stoneware, I am currently working with many alternative firing techniques such as naked raku, saggar firing, pit firing and horsehair raku. A saggar is either a clay container that I make in which to fire a piece, or several layers of aluminum foil wrapped around the piece in which to fire it. For the clay saggar process, I place a terra sigilatta burnished pot that has been previously bisque fired into the saggar, where I have also strategically placed various materials such as copper wire, wood shavings, copper sulfate, salt, steel wool. I fire this container with the pot and the organic material in it. The piece that results is a lovely blend of deliberateness and spontaneity with a hint of landscape. For the aluminum foil saggar I apply ferric chloride to the burnished piece and sprinkle some sugar on the wet ferric and fire to 1200. The serendipitous nature of these firings models the art we find in our natural world.