Wood firing is a full body practice, an alchemical process of heat & time.

The burning of wood also serves an aesthetic purpose and deposits layers of wood ash on the surface of the work, melts and becomes glaze, unique in color and texture to each individual piece. The science of ceramics doesn’t eliminate the mystery of the unknown.

Wood firing is a full body attention practice that keeps me constantly growing, changing and evolving. In this traditional, natural ceramic process clay pieces are loaded in different orientations throughout the kiln and wood is burned as fuel over the course of multiple days. In traditional high temperature firings, pieces are fired to cone 10, reaching a peak temperature of 2400 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hotter than lava.

This way of working creates community, as wood kilns require lots of pieces to fill and need to be stoked with wood 24 hours each day for multiple days, which is more than any one person can accomplish alone. The physicality of working with clay and commitment to the labor of splitting wood, loading, and firing kilns allows people to express their own ideas, develop self-confidence, and creates deep bonds of friendship.

I see working with clay as an ancient, cross-cultural material calling. No matter how much our technology advances, we still desire to touch, hold, hug, push, pull, make and feel something physically. Clay is transformed into ceramics through fire and watching it, tending to it during that change is poetic, and it bonds people together through acts of craft, care and community.