Friday Day 8: 8:50pm

thunder

lightening

storm rain

white heat

piri piri flame

(post-secondary ingnition of super-hot gases)

more

and soon at the blow holes

thunder thunderous

thunder

kiln cracks seep flame

liquid light oozing

be brave

Infinity Solstice Firing 2009

Fire 

Clay 

Wood 

Family

Love

Soul 

Infinity

Did everyone get the following letter?

Awesome. Here it is again:

We light the fire tomorrow evening, Friday, June 19th. All are welcome to come out, pile some wood, check out the fire, share some tea or hot chocolate, and learn about woodfiring an anagama the Lee Horus Clark way. The kiln is located at the top of Dryer Road, off the west side of the river road between Hartland and Florenceville. Follow Dryer road to the highway overpass, turn right on the access road the runs parallel to the highway, follow the access road to the bottom of the hill, walk the path. You'll find us. Questions? here's our cell #: 1 506 392-7917. As many of you already know, we have been working for months, renovating the Little River Anagama, making pottery, and preparing over nine cords of white pine...This firing is the culmination of not only our efforts this past year, but also of the many years of passion and dedication that Lee has put into the Little River Anagama, since its inception as a hikarigama (double chambered kiln) to this final transformation into a lean, mean, straight-chimney-ed anagama [machine!]. Upon unloading, we will be posting photographs of finished work with information on availability and pricing. To view work in person, our studio/gallery in Florenceville, NB is open by appointment, and Lee's work is shown in Fredericton at Gallery 78. Yo's work can be found at the Fredericton Barracks Fine Craft shops, as well as at Handworks Gallery in Saint John, NB. We will also be attending the Rothesay, NB Fine Craft Show on July 11th, and 12th, as well as several other shows and events throughout the summer--check back regularly for updates! If we don't see you out in the woods, have a wonderful, safe and sunny summer. Sincerely, Yolande, Lee & Horus

He tolerated the playpen (cage) for about 2.5 minutes.  

Trivets

When the teenagers vandalized the kiln a few years ago, part of their sentence (!) included helping Lee prepare for the next firing.  They were put to work making trivets.  The task of trivet making is often given to the newbies, volunteers, inexperienced or those who misbehave.  However, the importance of trivets cannot be underestimated, especially when firing for long periods of time. For shorter firings that accumulate less natural ash glaze on the work, wadding, (a material made of a mix of clay and alumina with a high refractory) is widely used to prevent the pots from sticking to the kiln shelves.  However, with rivers of gorgeous natural ash glaze flowing over the pots, trivets--round cookie shaped clay with points like a star that the pots sit on--make for a much more efficient and elegant clean-up, and finish.  Instead of flowing onto the bottom of the pot via thick chunks of wadding, the glaze drips right off the pot, onto the trivet, but only the points of the trivet make contact with the piece.  Lee first saw trivets being used in Japan, by Shiho Kanzaki, and he has adopted the practice.  We make trivets using molds, that Lee made in several different sizes (to accomodate different-sized pots).  Pointed knobs of clay are pushed into the points of the mold, and then a cake of clay is pushed on to the top of that to form the body.  The trivet is removed from the mold with another piece of clay, used as a handle/sticky...Here my little sister shows off her handiwork.  She is very organized.  

Inside

The new bag wall.  Built to diffuse and distribute heat more evenly throughout the kiln.

The first three pots to be loaded into the back of the kiln.  Vessels made with a bizen-style iron bearing clay are well-suited to this area.  It is slightly less intense at the back of the kiln, and we expect that this section will accumulate less natural ash build-up.  However, the mid-cal dark clay body we use, generally develops a really beautiful, subtle deep purple sheen.  Also, one of the main motivations for the recent renovation of the kiln, is to be able to sustain ridiculous, straight-from-the-underworld, otherworldly temperatures and conditions that will facilitate outrageous outpourings of lava-like glaze-- blues and greens...and at the very least, a real depth of character to the dark clay. So we have decided to forego the use of a shino altogether.  Also, we are out of time.  It's a bit risky, Lee said this morning as we were packing pots in the studio, But everything about this is risky, isn't it?  That's the way (uh huh) he likes it.  

I wanted to load with Lee today, but it's difficult to crawl in with Horus in the backpack.  And he's not into being put down lately.  Thankfully, we have knee pads for Lee.  And the upturned bucket/seat was helpful.

Loading Day Two

We had a crew out today.  317537 is back for the fire.  Philippe also, stopped by for a couple of days on his way back to Nova Scotia after a tour of some US intentional farming communities.  He put up the much-needed tarp over the front of the kiln and the stoking area.  Although today, it was hot, muggy, and buggy.  Our friend Jenny from Falls Brook Centre, once again, put in some long hours preparing bricks, shelves, etc.  We are hoping to start the fire by Wednesday.  There are still pots to be made, a chimney to be built (won't take too long), and, of course, trivets.  More about those later.

I cleaned out the kiln and the firebox, got rid of those first five iron bars that were nearly eaten away, then Horus woke up, so he and I went down to the river again.  We picked some grass, watched bugs, and giggled at the dogs.  Curly stole our apple, but we didn't mind.  We sang a song, too. 

Jenny scraping bricks.  And that's Phillippe--another talented potter who will probably be building his kiln in Nova Scotia...soon!

Ah, and the woodsplitter.  We once again have use of Lee's father's woodsplitter.  And no sign of the stolen machine.  We will be paying that off with the proceeds of this firing.  Thanks so much to Mike, who called after reading an article in the paper and offered to lend us his splitter.  

Rain Week

On Thursday: we covered the woodpile at dusk, minutes before the downpour.

And this mysterious flower.  A lady's slipper?  It looks beautiful and potentially carnivorous.  Strange, screwdriver leaves.  

This time, we remembered to cover the flue, as well.  Perhaps the protective roof will not be built in time for the firing.  Tarp.  

The Fire Artist

A few days ago, we all watched The Fire Artist, the excellent documentary by Claude Gagnon about Shiho Kanzaki, and his incredible methods and artwork.  The film features several interviews with other potters who have been influenced and inspired by Kanzaki, including...Lee!  He seems very young in the film.  And again, I noted, the striking similarities between Lee and Kanzaki, including both artists fathers' initial lack of understanding of their work, and their quiet but absolutely formidable determination.  

The film is a wonderful introduction to woodfiring, and offers some intriguing perspectives from many artists and collectors that help to elucidate the power and magic of the work.  The Fire Artist is available through Kanzaki's website.

Time to Load the Little River Anagama

Quercy has left, possibly to return during firing?  We hope so.  

Campfire at the raku kiln.

Lee finished the bag wall yesterday.  We start loading tomorrow.  In the rain, going by the forecast.

Woodfire Sabotage

We have had a really hard day.  I just sent the following to our local paper.  

My husband Lee Horus Clark built the 27 foot long Little River Anagama in 1999, on his father, Andrew Clark's land in the backwoods between Simonds, Connell and Charleston.  He was 22 years old at the time, and he built it against all odds, with his bare hands, blood, sweat, tears and no money.  

The process of woodfiring is incredibly intense:  hundreds of pieces of pottery are made over the course of several months.  Six to ten cords of sustainably harvested wood are cut, split, and piled.  The pottery is loaded into the kiln as bare clay, and over the course of 6-10 days, over 6 cords of wood are burned as the fire is stoked every 3-5 minutes for the entire duration of the firing, 24 hours a day.  

Since building the kiln, Lee has dedicated his entire life to pursuing his art, and he has been recognized throughout Eastern Canada, and North America, for his singular talent, skill, dedication and for the sheer beauty of his work.  Two years ago, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton acquired one of his pieces for their permanent collection.  Despite this wide acclaim, it has been a very challenging road, and we have consistently struggled to make ends meet.  In 2004, after a firing, while the kiln was cooling, Lee arrived at the kiln to check things out, to find that the door of the kiln had been partially removed, the back chamber door had been kicked in, pottery and kiln shelves had been broken, and many pieces of pottery had been destroyed.  The perpetrators (teenaged miscreants) were caught, thanks to communication throughout the community.  They were fined, and ended up doing community service at the kiln site.  Over the years, hundreds of dollars' worth of equipment has been stolen from the kiln site, including axes and other tools, a camera, chainsaws, personal items and more. 

The most difficult issue over the past few years however, has been Lee's serious health problems.  Lee and I moved to Florenceville permanently three years ago, to focus on pottery, woodfiring, making art and opening our community pottery studio offering classes for kids and adults.  We were married in our home/studio, the former United church on Main Street in Florenceville, and at that point, Lee had been living with a severe and debilitating form of arthritis for some time.  He waited in line for two years, to have both of his hips replaced.  By the time he was finally scheduled to have the double hip replacement surgery almost exactly a year ago, I was five months pregnant with our son, Horus.  Due to his arthritis and surgery, we missed several opportunities to fire, and because Lee was unable to work at all (or even to get out of bed), we found ourselves in even more serious financial trouble.  We borrowed money to get by, as we were (and remain) determined to avoid going on social assistance.  Lee continues to refuse to accept the disability pension that he is eligible for.  Because Lee has always been self-employed, he has never received EI.  After the hip replacement surgeries, we had hoped that Lee's health problems would be over, but the arthritis had already begun to manifest in the rest of his joints.  Lee is currently, in daily, constant pain, but despite this, we persist.  In April of this year, we began snowshoeing out to the kiln to prepare for the firing we are supposed to begin in less than two weeks.  We have torn down the back chamber of the kiln, moved hundreds of bricks, and rebuilt the chimney in hopes that this firing will be the success that we need, realistically, to stay in New Brunswick.  We have ben working, and working very very hard, every single day, for a long time.  

We usually borrow the woodsplitter that belongs to Lee's father, but it had to be taken to Valley Chainsaw to be fixed, so we rented a brand new woodsplitter from the shop, in order to split our 9 cords of wood.  We are out at the kiln every single day until dark, and we hid the splitter under a pile of wood last night before coming back home.  Nonetheless, we arrived at the kiln this morning to find that the splitter had been stolen.  If not for Lee's arthritis, we would certainly have been hauling the splitter away each evening.  However, it is a very heavy and unwieldy piece of equipment, requiring at least two strong people to lift on to the back of a pickup truck.  All of the wood that was covering the woodsplitter was removed by the thieves, and carefully piled to one side.  

We now have several more cords of wood to split, no money, and a stolen woodsplitter worth in excess of $3000 to pay for.  

We love Carleton County, and we have had an incredible amount of support from friends, family and strangers, but we cannot complete this firing without a woodsplitter, and time is running out.  Pottery and woodfiring is our passion, our life, and our livelihood.  We are honest, hardworking people, and we would like to continue to offer art classes and workshops to the community.  

If anyone has any information, please let us know.  The woodsplitter was situated on the access road parallell to the new highway, between Connell, Simonds and Charleston, off the Dryer road.  We will happily accept the woodsplitter back with no questions asked.  Get in touch with us at 392-7917 or through email at babycowlickedme@hotmail.com.  

Yo