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The kiln is stacked with pottery before being lit. The artists will retrieve their fired pieces after the kiln cools down.
Photo: Photo ProvidedThe kiln is stacked with pottery before being lit. The artists will retrieve their fired pieces after the kiln cools down.
The kiln is stacked with pottery before being lit. The artists will retrieve their fired pieces after the kiln cools down.
The kiln is stacked with pottery before being lit. The artists will retrieve their fired pieces after the kiln cools down.
WILSONVILLE — The flames leaped higher and higher on the fall evening in Macoupin County as the devoted gathered in a circle around the inferno, gazing intently at the conflagration that was transforming the objects of their desire.
Was it witchcraft? No, but what it does to pottery is magical.
Area potters participated in a rare wood-burning kiln firing last weekend in Wilsonville, taking turns feeding the flames that turned their clay creations into one-of-a-kind usable works of art at temperatures that reached about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
“It took 19 hours of us sitting there feeding wood into the fire to get that hot,” said Brandace Cloud, executive director of the Macoupin Art Collective in Staunton. She constructed the kiln in her back yard and supervised its firing.
“We tend to fire at night because we get billowing, black smoke out of the kiln and up to 12-inch flames shooting out of it,” Cloud said. “I fire at night to start with so I don’t alarm my neighbors. But one neighbor sat with us for a long time because he likes watching us load and fire.”
Cloud said wood firing is different than the usual electric kiln firing because the burning wood imparts a special character to the finished ceramics.
“The kiln is adding decorations on the surface with the wood ash, the soda that we spray into the kiln, and the interaction between the atmospheric firing and the clay body and the glazes we choose,” Cloud said. “It also depends on the location in the kiln, if it catches a flame near it or if it’s nestled behind something else.”
Ten people were involved in the overnight kiln firing. They will return Sunday to retrieve their fired ceramics after the kiln has cooled down.
“It’s just like Christmas; there’s this anticipation and discovery,” said Sarah Walker of Highland, a professional artist who primarily paints but has also done ceramics for 15 years.
“It’s exciting because you never know what your results are going to be,” she said. “Each kiln fires a little differently and as you fire in the same kiln multiple times you discover where its sweet spots are.”
The vigil was Walker’s fourth experience with a wood-fired kiln.
“It’s really great being outdoors; it tends to be like a communal experience,” Walker said. “It’s nice being out in the fall air and having the wood smoke.”
Amy Gugger and her husband experienced the wood-fired kiln process for the first time. They joined the other participants in loading the kiln and getting it ready for firing.
“Brandace had a neat stack of 94 bricks which had been carefully numbered and laid in the perfect order to close the kiln opening,” Gugger said. “One by one they were handed to her and a thick layer of refractory blanketing was laid across the top of the kiln to help hold in the heat. A small pile of kindling and a scrap of wadded paper were placed in the firebox, and the fire was lit.
“Immediately we began to feed the fire larger and larger pieces of wood and soon a roaring blaze warmed us as we stood before the firebox,” Gugger said. “We placed our lawn chairs several feet away from the inferno as well as six feet apart from each other, and we wore masks to prevent any possible spread of COVID-19.”
The participants took turns over the next 18 hours stoking the fire, arranging the ashes and coals, and recording the temperature and time. Most worked in shifts, going home for a time and returning to resume their kiln-tending duties.
“We could see the orange light through cracks between bricks,” Gugger said. “All of the pottery glowed a hot yellow-orange-red; it was beautiful. The refractory blanket glowed along the edge and occasionally flames came out of spaces between bricks and the chimney.”
Jim Linksvayer of Alhambra, a potter since 1984, has a studio with electrically fired kilns but wood-fired kilns are a passion for him. Linksvayer teaches pottery classes at the Macoupin Art Collective and assisted with the wood-fired kiln experience.
“It’s a joy to watch and participate in,” Linksvayer said. “The wood-firing thing for me is almost a religion, I’ve always enjoyed it that much.”
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October 09, 2020 at 04:27PM
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Macoupin potters stoke wood-fired kiln - Jacksonville Journal-Courier
"wood" - Google News
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