Jim Romberg, USA
Author "Raku: Origins, Impact, and Contemporary Expression", RAKU Summit 2005
An M.F.A. graduate in ceramics from Claremont and early student of Paul Soldner, Jim is well known to collectors and academics for his outstanding work in Raku. Even more influential in the world of ceramics is his philosophy and search for significance in art which influenced today's art leaders attending his 15 years as Director of Ceramics at Sun Valley Center for the Arts andHumanities.

Jim's workshops are well known throughout the US, in France at l'Ecole des Beaux Arts, and Geneva. His work is featured in the permanent collections of Janss Sun Valley, Northern Arizona Museum of Art, Geneva Municipal Art Collection, The Banff Art Center, and the Maurer Collection of Contemporary Ceramics at Scripps College. His work has appeared in numerous publications as an important influence in the development of Raku ceramics, including the independent publication "Ceramics Today: James Romberg" by the International Academy of Ceramics, Switzerland. Jim's recent retirement from 18 years as Professor Emeritus of Art, Southern Oregon University has led to his Directorship of the Eagleheart Center for Arts and Inquiry, where he has authored and organized this current international "Raku Summit 2005: Origins, Impact and Contemporary Expression". Jim's work: "The stretchings of clay around volume, around experience, contain activities of the heart, mind, soul and body which are specifically directed toward a sense of time, movement, atmosphere and abstract relations intended to provoke."

Tim Andrews, UK
From art college to David Leach apprentice, Dartington Pottery to Exeter, Devon and his own international pottery summer schools in South Tawton, Tim Andrews returned in 1986 to sharing Lowerdown Pottery with David Leach and in '93 moved to his own pottery just outside Exeter. Tim's work, found in both private and public collections, is highly regarded in the UK . Tim is author of "Raku: A Review of Contemporary Work" published in Great Britain in 1994, and "Second Edition: Raku" in 2005. Mr. Andrews is a Fellow of the Craftsmen Potters Association.

Jean Biagini, France
Jean studied ceramics in Japan with historical ceramic masters Fujiwara and Takashi. Influenced by Hamada, Leach and Soldner, Jean returned to France in 1974 to open his own studio. In 1975 he began his tenure at the l'Ecole d'Arts d'Aix-en-Provence and started the revolution in clay through Raku which has continued to influence European ceramics today. Jean is well known for his symposium in Aix-en-Provence "Autour de Paul Soldner." He is a Professor at l'Ecole des Beaux Artes, and continues his explorations in performance, video and electronic arts.

Ching-Yuan Chang, Taiwan
In 1993, after his emersion as an American educator, Ching returned to the homeland of his first thirty years. There in Taiwan he rediscovered the objects of his memories that lead him to the "sincere dialogue of art, a relationship with the history of his motherland, and a search for contemporary and international emersion". Ching received his B.F.A. in Industrial Design at The National Taiwan Academy of the Arts. His prolific and international career in Raku includes numerous solo exhibitions and award grants for excellence and influence in the development of Raku. Ching represents the new Raku generation and is currently teaching as Assistant Professor, Graduate Institute of Applied Arts, Tainan National College of the Arts.

Aline Favre, Switzerland
Representative pieces of Aline's work can be found in the permanent collections of museums in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, Holland, Turkey, the U.S. and Japan . Aline's art education began in 1949, at the Fine Arts School of Geneva in painting, music and ceramics. Her work with Philippe Lambercy and Mario Mascarin oriented her professional activity toward clay. Her professorship at her Alma Mater in 1956 then led to significant work in porcelain for which she received a gold medal at the 1978 International Ceramics Competition of Faenza, Italy. She continues to win major awards internationally including First Place in the coveted Festival de la Place de Fetes a Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva.

Fabienne Gioria, Switzerland
Fabienne is intrigued by the historical transformation of objects, "The metamorphosis of the material, for the fire for its power to do this, for the delicacy with which it reveals color, for the magical way in which it makes more beautiful, or destroys the pieces entrusted to it". Fabienne received her masters degree from L'Ecole des Arts Decoratifs de Geneve, and became Professor of Art at l'Ecole des Arts Appliques de Vevey in 1989, a position she held until 2002. Fabienne is well known for her work in "naked" Raku and her workshops throughout Europe, Greece, Portugal, as well as Quebec, Canada and Egypt.

Rick Hirsch, USA
Mr. Hirsch works extensively in Raku as a result of his studies in Japan and is represented in the permanent collections of museums including the Smithsonian, The Renwick, Toronto's Gardner and the American Crafts Museum in NYC. Born in New York, Rick studied at the Art Students League and State University of New Palz. His M.F.A. came at the side of Frans Wildenhain at The School for American Craftsmen, R.I.T. in New York, where he teaches currently. Rick co-authored "Raku: Techniques for Contemporary Potters", and coordinated the International Raku Symposium, Korea 2001. Rick Hirsch's powerful abstract vessel sculptures bring aspects of American and Japanese Raku together in an ongoing dialogue, an "attempt to metamorphose the seemingly mundane vessel object into a sacred entity".

David Jones, UK
Born in 1953, Dave graduated in philosophy and literature from University of Warwick where he discovered pottery. David's Raku ceramics can be found in private and public collections in Europe, Japan and the US. In '93 he worked and studied in Japan as the recipient of the INAX Design Prize for European Ceramists. David is a Fellow of the Craft Potters Association of Great Britain, is a Senior lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton and the author of "Raku: Investigations into Fire" 1999. "By deconstructing and then reconstructing the humble cup, jug, and teapot - at the same time denying them, by Raku firing, a purely functional role, David invites a re-examination of those familiar vessels and stirs the viewer to a new appreciation of a common, yet profound act of ritual."

Toshio Ohi , Japan
Toshio Ohi is the youngest member of the famous Japanese pottery making OHI family, whose history dates back 350 years. The Ohi tradition is closely linked to the Raku dynasty. His pieces reflect the philosophy "that to perpetuate a true tradition places a responsibility on each generation to build on the spirit of the past through re-examination and innovation". His tools are those made by his grandfather.

Paul Soldner, USA
The genesis of American-style Raku as we know it today began with Paul Soldner in 1960, at a time when American ceramics was dominated by stoneware. A trail-blazing student of Peter Voulkos, at LA County Art Institute, Paul's trend bucking directions culminated in his M.F.A. series of man-sized floor pots. After which and during his appointment at Scripps College in Claremont, and influenced by the firing techniques described by Leach in "A Potter's Book", he began his interest in Raku and the Japanese aesthetic. An extraordinary artist and teacher, Paul Soldner's work is highly collectable, was honored in the retrospective at "Scripps 2004 Standing Room Only", and celebrated in "Paul Soldner, a Retrospective 1991", by University of Washington Press. Paul at 84, continues to lecture and conduct workshops nationally.

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