The left side of this plate was reduced, the right side was slightly oxidized. Note the different coloring.
I make a wide range of functional stoneware pottery (fired at a higher temperature and more durable than lower temperature wares). I like things to be useful as well as beautiful, and to feel nice in the hand and do their job well when used. I enjoy experimenting with different forms and shapes. I have a great affinity to nature and like my pots to look “natural.” Some pots I paint with nature-inspired patterns. Sometimes I will impress leaves or seaweed into my pots. Some shapes are inspired by nature: bamboo, a squash, a flower, a fat belly. Sometimes I will cut the rim of a bowl to look like ocean waves. I will often leave the throwing rings on a pot, sometimes exaggerating them. Sometimes I will stretch or alter a pot slightly while it is still wet–trying to catch fluidity in stone. I often make the rims of my cups uneven, for a more fluid look. When I sit down at the wheel, I will generally throw a series of pots that are alike or are variations on a form, as through repetition a more natural look is obtained.
Nearly all of my pots are high-fired stoneware, fired to cone ten (around 2380 F or about the same temperature as your average basaltic volcano). Most of my work is fired in a gas kiln in a reducing atmosphere (not enough oxygen in the atmosphere to burn the fuel, so the flame robs oxygen from the clay and glazes to burn, effecting the chemical composition and thus the colors). The quality of reduction in a kiln is effected by the type of fuel burned, the timing and duration of the reduction, and the flow of the draft through the kiln, which is effected by pot placement and weather conditions such as wind speed and direction, barometric pressure and humidity, and chance, so I’m never quite sure how a pot will come out of the kiln.
I occasionally do salt firing, where salt is thrown into the kiln to vaporize and combine with the surface of the clay to become a sodium silicate glaze or to flux and effect applied glazes. I also occasionally do wood firing, where the wood is the fuel source and the ashes become a glaze or effect the glazes. I also occasionally do raku firing and pit firing, which are very low temperature and less functional, as the pots are still porous.
Nearly all of my pots are high-fired stoneware, fired to cone ten (around 2380 F or about the same temperature as your average basaltic volcano). Most of my work is fired in a gas kiln in a reducing atmosphere (not enough oxygen in the atmosphere to burn the fuel, so the flame robs oxygen from the clay and glazes to burn, effecting the chemical composition and thus the colors). The quality of reduction in a kiln is effected by the type of fuel burned, the timing and duration of the reduction, and the flow of the draft through the kiln, which is effected by pot placement and weather conditions such as wind speed and direction, barometric pressure and humidity, and chance, so I’m never quite sure how a pot will come out of the kiln.
I occasionally do salt firing, where salt is thrown into the kiln to vaporize and combine with the surface of the clay to become a sodium silicate glaze or to flux and effect applied glazes. I also occasionally do wood firing, where the wood is the fuel source and the ashes become a glaze or effect the glazes. I also occasionally do raku firing and pit firing, which are very low temperature and less functional, as the pots are still porous.
Here I am throwing wood into a wood-fired salt kiln.
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