7 minute read
THE RIGHT ATMOSPHERE
Anagama kiln during firing, Robin DuPont. Photo: Adrian Wagner
Wood-fired kilns
by Eden DuPont
The soft crackling of kindling, paired with flickering wisps of flame and smoke, barely spirited enough to generate any warmth, gently marks the start of a process that is centuries old. A towering mortarless chimney is awakened and slowly begins to lure and draw as it is aptly designed to do. Between lies a cold chamber of unfired clay forms, neatly stacked and positioned floor to ceiling, patiently awaiting transformation.
The saying goes, “As long as there have been people, there have been potters.” Ever since humans first began to understand how fire could be used to harden clay forms into useful objects, and for at least a few thousand years, wood was used as the principal fuel for firing pottery. At some point in history, it was discovered that wood ash will melt and affect the clay to produce subtle and beautiful surfaces on the work during the firing process.
Ancient Japanese, Korean and Chinese cultures are most notably venerated for the origins of the kiln technology that could fire and surface ceramics to 1,300 degrees Celsius with wood. It is also where traditions became honoured and the aesthetic propagated through rituals, such as the tea ceremony. These cultures continued to celebrate the aesthetic of wood-fired ceramics long after many other cultures moved towards more efficient technologies such as electricity and natural gas.
Wood firing, simply put, is just not an efficient or cost-effective process. Each firing requires many, many hours of labour, months in advance of a firing, to collect, chop and stack multiple cords of wood as the wood must first be dry and cured. The weeks leading up to a firing are spent preparing the kiln: grinding and washing shelves; organizing kiln furniture; mixing wadding refractory; and vacuuming the kiln out to remove any residual ash or dust from previous firings. The loading can take several hours, sometimes days, of concentrated effort to carefully stilt and place each piece into the kiln. Even the door must be fully bricked up before the fire can be lit. The description of this dutiful preparation doesn’t even account for the significant hours required to make the pots that will be fired!
Once the first match is finally struck, a small fire will grow and build over continuous days of careful stoking and kiln tending. As the temperatures rise and the kiln become saturated with flame, the wood itself will become the glaze. At these extremely high temperatures, molten ash will run, drip and layer the pots with this ash glaze. It takes multiple people to fire a wood kiln, as the stoking and observance is constant from start to finish.
There are fewer than 60 wood kilns across Canada. With a smattering in almost every province, some can still be found at educational institutions and artist-run centres, but more are privately owned and communally fired by a small group of ceramic artists. The wherewithal and expertise required to build a wood kiln is also extremely limited, so to call wood firing a niche segment of the contemporary ceramics scene is even an overstatement.
It seems a curiosity then, that there exists an inordinately large cluster of wood kilns right here in the Slocan Valley. In fact, there are currently six active wood kilns within a short, 50-kilometre stretch of this picturesque and remote segment of the province. The web of connections and influences that explain this anomaly present intriguing stories.
A two-chamber catenary arch kiln named Bhava Ultrea has a splendid home on the property of full-time studio potter and retired ceramics instructor Pamela Nagley Stevenson in Appledale. Built in 2008, this kiln is the result of a decades-long shared dream of Stevenson and fellow ceramic artist Susanne Ashmore, who initially met in Banff in the 1980s where the process of wood firing was first impressed upon them. Before Bhava, Kibriya stood—a much smaller single-chamber 16-cubic-foot kiln that underwent 24 firings before being dismantled to contribute recycled refractory into the larger kiln.
A short distance south of Winlaw, Robin DuPont maintains a compound of atmospheric kilns. Lily (2005), Autumn (2009), Lucinda (2014) and Yorel (2016) were all designed and built collaboratively, each producing unique surface qualities. DuPont completed his MFA from Utah State University, a North American mecca of atmospheric kiln research, and has been recognized internationally for his contributions to the genre of atmospheric firing in the last 25 years, for his surface development and kiln building expertise.
Just down the highway in Passmore, potter and mason Cam Stewart has built a double bourry box, single-chamber wood/soda kiln. Stewart contributed significantly to the building of Stevenson’s kiln before designing and constructing his own kiln, which he named Jean (2021). At the south end of the valley in Krestova, Kim Chernoff has completed the 13th firing of her catenary arch, cross-draft, fast-fire kiln, which she named Dona Adeleida (2019).
These potters have carefully chosen a name for each of their kilns, just as they thoughtfully invite people to join the effort to conscientiously tend to the kilns that assert their own voice and personality into every firing. Each of these valley wood kilns has its own unique cycle and rhythm; to even begin to understand how the rich, organic wood ash surfaces on the pots are created can only happen through practise and continuous use. What the kilns all have in common is a shared focus that connects the potters and participants in a collaborative action.
What the potters all have in common is a dedication to an artform and process that asks more questions than gives concrete answers, and an eagerness to build community and gather likeminded curiosity. Serendipitous connections and the fostering of community around the firebox are some of the reasons this exceptional sub-genre continues to endure. In a place where ceramists comprise the largest contingent of artisans in the region, the Kootenays is fast acquiring a reputation as Canada’s wood-firing hub.
THE GREAT CANADIAN POTTERY THROW DOWN
There’s more than one Kootenay connection to The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down, which began airing on CBC Television in February. Ten contestants from across the country were chosen to compete in the reality series, with the winner scooping the title of Canada’s best potter.
Alice Gibson, originally from Penticton, graduated from the ceramics program at Kootenay Studio Arts (KSA) at Selkirk College in 2023. She applied to be a contestant and after a Zoom call with the series producers and a formal audition in Toronto, she made the cut.
“Not only was I wrapping up a wonderful year at Selkirk College with so many amazing people, but I was now going to embark on this insane journey,” she said in an interview with Selkirk College.
Robin DuPont is a Winlaw ceramist, KSA instructor and one of Gibson’s mentors. He was hired as the ceramics consultant for the series, to ensure authenticity. DuPont also served as the City of Nelson’s 2023 Cultural Ambassador.
Gibson and her fellow contestants spent two months in late summer filming in a studio on Vancouver’s Granville Island. Each week, the potters step up to the wheel and take on creative challenges to test their skill and technique.
“The cast is really high level. I’m so proud of Alice and all the competitors,” says DuPont.
