From left to right ... Jim Dugan from Baltimore Clayworks, Judy Goldberg-Strassler, Karen Riedlinger, me, Janet Evander, Karen Morgenstern, Alan Dowdy, Melanie Choe, Jonathan Gordy, Carol Wisdom, Amy Castner, Vejune Svotelis, Karen Arrington. Missing from the photo are Tom Baker, Quianna Douglas, and Kuniko Wallis.
Wood-firing has become an October tradition for the potters from the Greenbelt Community Center. It's the perfect time of year to schedule our workshop at Baltimore Clayworks. The cooler weather makes us want to build a massive fire! Here are some photos from the event, which are generally sorted in chronological order. Click on the thumbnails for larger images and captions.
Wood-firing has become an October tradition for the potters from the Greenbelt Community Center. It's the perfect time of year to schedule our workshop at Baltimore Clayworks. The cooler weather makes us want to build a massive fire! Here are some photos from the event, which are generally sorted in chronological order. Click on the thumbnails for larger images and captions.
Oh, and then there were the pots! Here are just a few. There were many, many more that were just as gorgeous as these. Click on the thumbnails for larger images and names.
A "party" is how it was described by one of the first-timers, and that makes me really happy. You can tell by the photos above that there is an insane amount of work involved to successfully fire the kiln. Why did that feel like a party to us? There are two reasons why: 1) Baltimore Clayworks has a beautiful noborigama, and Jim Dugan provides a seemingly endless supply of expertise and guidance for students. 2) Greenbelters are awesome. Accomplishing all that work cooperatively with a large number of people is incredibly hard. And all of the challenging learning aspects of a wood-firing don't really happen if the people aren't sharing the work smoothly. I've learned this is not to be taken for granted, because in fact it takes an awful lot of character and intelligence to do this well. But it seems to come naturally for Greenbelters. "What's neat is that everyone seems to want everyone else's pots to be great," said another first-timer.
If you can't tell, I have so much respect for wood-firing. I love to introduce other potters to it, then watch the mind-blowing effect it has on first-timers, and the long-term growth and exploration that some will enjoy for years. Knowing these pyromaniacs makes my pottery life so much better. Hooray for pyromaniacs!
Thanks to those who contributed photographs for this blog post ... Karen Arrington, Amy Castner, Janet Evander, Judy Goldberg-Strassler, and Karen Morgenstern.
If you can't tell, I have so much respect for wood-firing. I love to introduce other potters to it, then watch the mind-blowing effect it has on first-timers, and the long-term growth and exploration that some will enjoy for years. Knowing these pyromaniacs makes my pottery life so much better. Hooray for pyromaniacs!
Thanks to those who contributed photographs for this blog post ... Karen Arrington, Amy Castner, Janet Evander, Judy Goldberg-Strassler, and Karen Morgenstern.
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