Process

 

There's a lot of effort that goes into the process of wood firing ceramics. It is very much a labor of love for artists who practice the humble craft.

Each piece of art carefully placed in the kiln gets painted by fire and ash, like a canvas recording the indelible marks of the atmosphere in an alchemical transformation of clay, wood, air and fire. Artists take shifts around the clock for days at a time to continuously stoke the kiln in order to gain or maintain temperature (up to 2300 degrees). 
We take turns taking the overnight shift and chopping wood by hand or on a splitter, followed by moving and stacking the wood to be used as fuel for the kiln. Multiple chords of wood are burned over the duration of the firing.

It is a beautiful process of teamwork and labor that results in a special kind of community building like no other.