
Tim Murphy
I have always enjoyed pottery and in the late seventies, I purchased a Raku tea set by the artist and Boise State University Professor, the late John Takahara and so began my true fascination with clay and especially Raku, but only as an admirer of the works of others. That changed in 2008 when my father-in-law (a mosaic artist) gave me a 25Lb bag of clay and told me to go play. During the first year, I hand-built my pots to get the feel for the clay and what it would and wouldn’t do and read everything about Raku, Saggar and Pit firing I could get my hands on. Fast forward to the present and the hobby has mutated into an obsession.
My focus is on Raku, Saggar, horsehair and pit-fired pottery. These techniques create heat-induced chemical reaction finishes by using organics and other materials most often without the use of traditional glazes. Materials include; sawdust, wood chips, straw, leaves, sea salt, copper carbonate, newspaper, Miracle-Gro, feathers, ferric chloride, horsehair, steel wool, copper wire and glaze.
Raku is filled with glorious highs and devastating lows. The violence and heat the clay undergoes can create immediate gratification and glory in creation or catastrophic failure as your perfect pot cracks or shatters. This may be best expressed by the late great potter Paul Soldner,
“In the spirit of Raku, there is the necessity to embrace the element of surprise. There can be no fear of losing what was once planned and there must be an urge to grow along with the discovery of the unknown. Make no demands, expect nothing, follow no absolute plan, be secure in change, learn to accept another solution, and, finally, prefer to gamble on your own intuition.”
Each of my pots is a unique and one-of-a-kind work of art. Handle with care, protect from prolonged direct sunlight and to clean simply wipe with a microfiber cloth or rinse with water and let dry. The pots are decorative and not intended for food or prolonged contact with water. I hope you will enjoy owning my pottery as much as I did making it.
I joined Mossy Creek Pottery in the Spring of 2019.