Paul Soldner

Soldner is an artist born on the early 40's.  He was heavily influenced by the Abstract Expressionist movement and still creates many abstract objects.  I the late 1950's he experimented and developed what is now called American Raku.  He had read Bernard Leach's book and decided he wanted to try a technique described in the text but his outcome was not as interesting has he had hoped.  Soldner was using a 15th century Japanese technique to fire pots and pull them while they are red hot (or around 1800 degrees)but it was not until he decided to roll them in some leaves that things changed.  The introduction of combustibles created an atmosphere that reacted with the glazes causing them to flash brilliant colors.  Soldner was honored with the title Father of American Raku and has lead many artists to experiment with the essence and unpredictability of Raku.