is a visual artist/educator passionate about sustainability and authenticity in art. She is a registered teacher and has taught in state schools for seven years. Her art practice has ranged from oil painting to pottery with every medium in between. Her work has sold throughout QLD and her pottery is exhibited in Longreach and Mount Morgan. She is an accredited workshop facilitator with Flying Arts Alliance.
Welcome
To the first edition of ‘wild pottery’, a newsletter for the crazy potter and eclectically naturalist amongst us.
2023 began with a tumultuous ride in the news with crazy gunmen and tragic accidents in Queensland. For those of you who, like me, prefer to create a sustaining, nurturing lifestyle it is more important than ever to embrace those we love and foster self care and nurture of the environment.
The Arts are a perfect place to start; they provide a framework for critical observation of our society, but also an avenue for self expression and relaxation. Meshed with a focus on sustainable practice in which materials and equipment are repurposed and recycled and the artist journey personal and authentic it becomes a source of light for those struggling with our modern technological way of life.
I hope and pray that this newsletter will be the catalyst for each of us to life more in tune with our families, ourselves and nature as we are inspired by the magic of pottery.
Louise JonesI could buy a regular gas or electric kiln…
But that would be too easy…and boring. Not to mention reliant on energy sources that are costly and not exactly ecofriendly.
So I did some research. I mean, I am using a native clay so to start with my pottery process is somewhat alternative. So why not continuedownthealternativeroute?
My journey of discovering the joys of wild or native clay began with a short YouTube clip I uploaded to show my art students for a clay unit. You can see for yourself the clip that started it all: https://youtu.be/VSZvKo4GU
The idea that someone could harvest clay locally, create functional vessels and then fire them with natural materials was mind-blowing and so sympatico with my own ethos: to walk lightly on the earth and live authentically.
So back to my research. So far I have whipped up a drum kiln in my backyard that is pretty much hit and miss. I haven’t added any expensive ceramic fibre or gas fuel so it’s pretty much a glorified BBQ. The beautiful rusty red result of cooking yellow clay is great but not consistent and certainly not stoneware quality. In order to provide a high firing – I believe cone 6 is enough- of at least a bisque I need to reach 1000C. So what are my options?
I had heard of Raku kilns which can be built from bricks and cement but are
similar in terms of gas needs. A chance article in the Weekend Australian narrated the story of Peter Thompson in far northQld,wholivesinnaturefiringhis own local wild clay with his Anagama kiln, a huge beast based on the Japanese style kiln – see photo. He fires three months work in a 70+ hour firing using ‘forests’ of wood to fuel it. I wondered if there was a smaller version more suited to a studio like mine. My Google research hit on a design by ceramic student Henry Crissman in New York:
The Mobile Anagama: a Wood Kiln on Wheels(ceramicartsnetwork.org).
Fancy the idea of a towing a kiln behind you when travelling to facilitate pottery workshops? I certainly do! Perhaps a project with the Men’s Shed. Watch this space!
One of my workshop participants advised me of another alternative...the rocket kiln-picturedwhich needs low fuel and set up. I’m yet to find a design though which can fit an assortment of pots
Figure 2 pit fired pots with colorants from iron, copper and salt up in smoke pottery
Figure 3 Rocket kiln
into it, as most are for cooking on a top element.
Pit firing is of course the original method for ‘baking clay’ dating nearly 30 000 years ago. This process is usually done in a hole in the ground or pit and pots are placed inside and burned.
Pit firing-UP IN SMOKE POTTERY has excellent visuals of the pit firing process. Different preparation of the pottery in pit firing such as added horsehair or placing
in a saggar create a special result. The technique of saggar is firing a pot within aluminium foil, or more traditionally a fireclay box filled with combustible materials for effect. Some of the contemporary materials are quite unusual –
Blood & bone plant food, sulphur tuft mushrooms, bamboo leaves, finger nails, magnesium bath salts, mugwort, lichen, calendula flowers, carrot peel, banana peel, coffee grinds and eggshells.
I am yet to decide which design of kiln to use: perhaps I can try all of them. It will certainly be fun to explore the myriad of techniques and outcomes…
With thanks to: The weekend Australian
BBC Wikipedia Up in Smoke Pottery Ceramics Monthly [ceramic arts network NY]
Most of us have seen some kind of native or ‘wild’ clay. On riverbanks, in the garden or near the beach there are often seams of white, grey or yellow clay. So how can this be used, harvested, purified and used to build pottery?
I have a confession to make. I am not an expert Potter! As a Visual Arts Teacher in the state system I primarily saw myself as a facilitator of skills and media; so I learnt a large variety of techniques and skills for everything from Mosaic to Batik fabric printing. My first love was in painting and drawing; whilst living in Longreach however I discovered the therapy that is pottery; tactile, gritty, mouldable and with infinite numbers of manifestations. I of course like everyone else there, used the stoneware and occasionally raku clay purchased for the pottery ‘club’. And while I learnt how to turn on the automatic kiln system for bisque and glaze settings I am still a novice when it comes to knowing the ‘cones’ and temperatures needed. What I recognised however on arrival to Mount Morgan, is the joy of discovering a local ‘wild’ source of clay that can be handbuilt into functional and decorative objects. That joy is for everyone regardless of knowledge or expertise. And since sharing this clay with locals I’ve discovered two other kinds of clay found locally; one a greyish colour, the other chocolate brown. I have also just been using it as it comes out of the
ground (minus big rocks and sticks of course) rather than purifying it. I am impatient you see, and didn’t want to wait or mess around with a filtering system. Now after further research and because I want to use this clay on a pottery wheel, I will probably need to purify my wild clay a little better so that hands are not injured when spinning on the wheel by the grit found naturally. And I am still working with the other types of clay to see If they have the ‘plasticity’ for pottery. [my new vocabulary which just means ‘is it flexible but still stays together].
For a quick overview of using wild clay, the first place I recommend to go is:
Wild Clay Pottery: Tops Tips From Processing to Firing Leela Pottery (leelachakravarti.com), a simple step by step guide to using wild clay. Please share your stories of discovery – and photos- with us.
Figure 5 local yellow clay with white clay slip
Figure 11 Jim Sandefur -anagama
Figure 9 Luke Metz - saggar
Figure 8 Louise M Cournier -pit fired
Youmightbesurprisedtodiscover percolatinginOutbackWestern Queensland is the cauldron of glazes and stoneware that is the PotteryShed . Pottery in Longreach has a proud history going back to the 1970s when local Boo Hamric began pottery classes in an old empty house made available for women to meet. When in 1978 the old Ambulance Station- a derelict building was offered to the pottery group as a cultural centre it became the hub for a flourishing arts movement. Therewere art classes run by Longreach State High School teacher Mr Moriarty and Flying Arts regularly visited to run a variety of popular arts workshops in the region. Once the building was heritage listed the committee applied for a grant and received funding to build the pottery shed out back. Since1979 profilepotter‘Kathy’ Macdonald has been involved in advising, teaching, demonstrating and supplying ceramics to the area. The Pottery Shed is a popular retreat for the visiting young professionals rotating through their remote placement. The Shed is a place to hang out with friends, create something either functional or artistic, chat and socialise. Works fired in either of the two kilns overflow the Gallery space in the Ambulance Station. From functional plates and decorative vases the wares are displayed along with the artworks of local painters, sculptors, quilters, silversmiths, woodturners and photographers.
Kathy caught the pottery ‘bug’ from founder Boo who visited her small town of Muttaburra to teach a handful of ladies the art of ceramics
She now manages the pottery shed out of necessity; there are few others with her expertise still alive. Her biggest challenge she reports is that she does not naturally want to be in charge Perhaps that is why her shed is so popular; softly spoken and gentle in her instruction, she nevertheless is knowledgeable, helpful and most of all adventurous. Her own artworks demonstrate that dynamic: tiny hedgehogs created for a tic tac toe game illustrate her love of hand-building creatures of all kinds. On the pottery wheel Kath finds the clay relaxing, despite challenging herself to create bigger and more varied and adventurous vessels. Most of all she delights in making beautiful functional pieces
She is told that the committee have been making plans for her ‘succession’; laughingly Kath reports that two younger members have been in training with clay in order to accept the mantle of manager to this special Pottery Shed. Most of the older members have long passed and few have the knowledge and skills to pass on. It is hoped that the techniques and heritage of pottery in Longreach will continue to be appreciated and taught for many years to come
Kathleen MacDonald Figure 12 Longreach Arts & Cultural Association
