STURT WOODFIRE 2008
18th - 21st  April 2008

Conference papers (these will be added to over time) Click on the paper's title to open a PDF
Tea bowls - a user's perspective. Presented by John Henderson
Some thoughts on sustainability. Presented by Steve Harrison
Environmental issues. Presented by Stewart Scambler
Char Char Char: A Dance with Fire. Presented by Gary Hill
Controlled Reduced Cooling. Presented by Arthur Rosser
German(y) for WoodFirers - a very personal view. Presented by Markus Böhm
Women Woodfirers – the Pioneers; within the context of The Studio Pottery movement. Synopsis of paper presented by Coll Minogue

Overview of Conference

For further information, please contact Megan Patey:
mpatey@sturt.nsw.edu.au
Ph 02 4860 2080 Fax 02 4860 2081
PO Box 34 Mittagong 2575 NSW

Conference T-shirts (as a PDF) for sale - available now

Click here for the WoodFire poster

These images and more are available on CD. $20 which includes postage within Australia ($25 for overseas) email: ddryen@sturt.nsw.edu.au

STURT WOODFIRE 2008

One hundred and seventy-four attended the three day conference, Sturt WoodFire 2008, held from 18th – 21st April this year.  Delegates attended forums and individual presentations which explored the full range of issues central to wood fired ceramics. These included environmental concerns, marketing, technical issues, creative expression and cultural identity. As well, delegates saw presentations including surveys of wood firing from a diverse range of countries, including Egypt, Canada, West Timor, Germany, the USA and Japan. Demonstrations included firing the anagama kiln, performing tea ceremony, raku firing, and three of the key conference presenters demonstrated personal making methods.

In the week leading up to the Conference, three woodfiring workshops were held with tutors Yasuo Terada (Japan), Sandy Lockwood and Robert Barron (Australia), and Ron Meyers (USA) with Yuri Wiedenhofer (Australia) as assistant. The ogama, noborigama and anagama kilns were all fired at the same time, providing a unique learning experience for the thirty five students who took part in the firings. Two of the kilns were cool enough to unpack during the conference, with the third kiln being unpacked in the following weekend following the conference.

This was an important event for Sturt. In many ways, Sturt Pottery played a pivotal role for the development of wood firing in Australia. Ivan McMeekin established Sturt Pottery in 1953, and largely because of his extensive research and influential teaching, established a model for wood firing, which has continued throughout Australia until to-day. It was timely for an event of this size and significance to be held at Sturt. Although wood conferences are held every three of so years in Australia, this is the first wood firing conference to be held at Sturt. The combination of high quality exhibitions, stimulating discussion and a sense of historical significance provided an important marker in the sixty seven years history of Sturt.

Following is an overview of Conference proceedings.

FORUMS

1.         Is Wood Firing Relevant in a Contemporary Context?

This forum invited speakers to give a broad perspective on the place of ceramics within the contemporary art world, and to give personal reflections on how the speakers viewed ceramic expression from the viewpoint of curators, collectors, educators and artists.

CHAIR Jacqueline Clayton has a long career in ceramics, both as a maker and educator.  She studied ceramics in Kyoto, Japan and later at the National Art School, Sydney. Jacqueline established a woodfire studio at Mulgoa, NSW in the late 1970s and spent a period in the 80s at Andrew Halford’s pottery in Terry Hills.  For the last twenty years, Jacqueline has worked across a range of media and has exhibited widely in Europe, Asia, USA and Australia.  Since 2001, she has collaborated with Paul Davis in woodfiring at Sturt and in 2007 established the Press to Play range of production porcelain.  Her recent positions include Head of Design Studies and Head of Ceramics at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney.

PANEL MEMBERS
Robert Bell has been the Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the National Gallery of Australia since 2000, responsible for developing its collections and exhibitions of Australian and international decorative arts craft and design. Bell has had an intensive involvement in craft, design and the decorative arts, with a background as a graphic and exhibition designer for the Western Australian Museum (1967–1978); as a practitioner in ceramics and textiles and as a researcher and writer on craft, design and the decorative arts. In 2003 he was awarded the Centenary Medal for services to the decorative arts in Australia.

Anthony Bond is currently Director of Curatorial Services at The Art Gallery of New South Wales where he also heads the Western Art Department. His curatorial specialisation is in 20th century and contemporary International art. His recent major projects include curating TRACE the inaugural Liverpool Biennial in England 1999, BODY an exhibition tracing aspects of realism in art from the mid 19th century to today AGNSW 1997, Ken Unsworth Survey 1985-1998 AGNSW 1998, The Biennale of Sydney 1992/93 and three Australian Perspecta exhibitions at AGNSW, 1985, 1987 which toured Germany after Sydney and Perth and 1989. He also regularly curates project shows at the gallery and presents papers at Universities and conferences in Australia and overseas.

Dr Noelene Lucas is an artist with a background in Sculpture who for many years has worked with object and video installation. She has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, particularly in Thailand and Japan. Noelene has been the recipient of grants and awards including two development grants and two Tokyo residencies from the Australia Council plus AsiaLink residencies in Thailand and the Art Gallery of NSW Paris studio residency. Noelene is a lecturer in the School of Communication Arts at the University of Western Sydney. 

Ron Meyers is one of America’s well known ceramic artists. For over thirty years, he has exhibited and taught all over the USA.  He is renowned for the expressive nature of his work, painting coloured brushwork on earthenware, or incising directly into raw clay. With his recent move from low fired earthenware into higher fired wood firing, Ron Meyers will bring a highly informed yet fresh approach to wood firing aesthetics, and play a pivotal role in the quality of discussion at Sturt WoodFire 2008.

2.         Looking at Environmental Issues

This forum invited speakers to talk about the science of wood firing, environmental consequences, sustainable solutions and personal practices. Issues discussed included:

• Legislation affecting wood firers
• Comparisons between wood firing emissions and emissions from cars, houses and air travel
• CSIRO research into the environmental sustainability of using wood as a fuel
• Discussion around public perception of wood firing
• The responsibility of wood firers, and how their practices impact on the environment

CHAIR Paul Davis received an M.A. by research from Monash University in 1995 for his work on glazes associated with the Japanese tea ceremony.  Later that year, he was awarded the prestigious Japan Foundation Fellowship and travelled to Hagi, Japan where he studied and worked for five years.  In 2001, Paul was appointed Head of Sturt Pottery. This role sees Paul directing Sturt Pottery’s teaching and training program as well as continuing his career of making and exhibiting work defined by exquisite glaze quality and superior crafting.  Since the commercial development of Paul’s clay body Kagero, his work has moved to a larger scale and a more sculptural approach.

PANEL MEMBERS
Stewart Scambler is a teacher, maker and writer from Western Australia specialising in ceramics. He has firm views about being active in achieving sustainability with wood firing. He fires a single chamber kiln at York in Western Australia.

Ray Cavill is a wood firer from Queensland who has researched wood firing as part of a Master’s thesis. He will present some of the research, falling into two categories: 

1. Ways of minimizing visible emissions
2. Information about emissions resulting from wood firing

Steve Harrison lives in the Southern Highlands and has been working with clay since 1968, as a potter, teacher, kiln builder and author. He has researched local clays and firing methods and is the author of many publications and articles, including: Rock Glazes, Geology and Mineral Processing for Potters, Thoroughly Modern Milling, Australian Woodfiring, and Fibre Reinforced Clay Bodies.

Dr Gary Hill – Honorary Associate, School of Visual Art and Design, La Trobe University, Melbourne, has examined the scientific effects of combustion in kilns.

Three of the members of this panel, Ray Cavill, Steve Harrison and Dr Gary Hill, also delivered papers addressing some of these issues in more detail.

3.         Making – A Central Focus

This forum examined studio practice, and presented a range of strategies, solutions and philosophies from five ceramic practitioners.

CHAIR Ian Jones has been a passionate exponent of wood firing and studio practice for over thirty-five years. His ideas are obvious in his achievements – having established two successful studio/gallery environments at Gundaroo near Canberra, which have both proudly promoted his life as a potter, and have been both placed firmly on the map as a must to visit for all those interested in ceramics and wood firing. A Churchill fellow, Ian has studied and worked in Japan, USA, and the UK.

PANEL MEMBERS
Sandy Lockwood  Since 1980 Sandy Lockwood has been working with clay, woodfiring and saltglazing at Balmoral Pottery in the Southern Highlands. In 2003 she was awarded a Master of Visual Arts from Monash University, Victoria. Sandy has exhibited widely, won awards and her work is represented in public collections in Australia and UK, USA, Europe, Korea and Japan.  She has taught at various colleges including National Art School, Sydney and at workshops in Australia and internationally.

Jann Kesby initially trained in a production workshop at Duffy’s Forest. She then worked with Ian Mckay at Sturt Pottery. Jann lives in the mid north coast, and has a studio, with a recently constructed anagama fired by bourry box.  Her passion for clay and wood is still as strong as when she was first introduced to it some 25 years ago. A recent trip to Japan cemented even further her commitment to the process. Jann is presently a Masters candidate at National Art School.

Robert Barron was born in Harpenden, England, in 1957.  He commenced potting full-time in the family pottery at Croydon, Victoria, in 1976. In 1979, he left Australia on a five-year journey to New Zealand, North America, England, Europe, and South Korea to work with woodfiring potters. During this time, he visited Michael Cardew at Wenford Bridge Pottery, Cornwall, UK and studied there. He was also engaged as an apprentice at Cornwall Bridge Pottery, Connecticut, USA and frequented many workshops, art schools, galleries, and museums. Robert established Gooseneck Pottery at Kardella, Victoria and with the assistance of a Crafts Board grant, built a 1000 cubic ft five-chambered woodfired kiln. Influenced by the philosophies of Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew, and with a passion for pots made by traditional crafts people throughout the world, he continues to develop ideas and techniques by exploring the intricacies of woodfiring.

Ben Richardson currently pursues a professional practice in ceramics along with teaching commitments in the Visual Art and Contemporary Craft course at TAFE in Hobart. His professional practice focuses on woodfiring and the use of indigenous raw materials in a place-based approach to craft making. He was born in Hobart in 1951 and has a diverse professional and teaching background, having completed a Bachelor of Economics at the University of Tasmania in 1972, and a Master of Art, Design and Environment at the Tasmanian School of Art (UTAS) in 2004. He was a part-time lecturer in ceramics at the Tasmanian School of Art in Hobart from 1985 to 1995.

4.         The Masters

This forum invited the Masters to reflect on their years of practice, and to comment on significant challenges, issues, or experiences – on what they felt were the main issues confronting wood fired ceramics in Australia today - the pivotal issues or challenges or motivators. Discussion was encouraged from the floor. 

CHAIR Chester Nealie was born 1942, Rotorua, New Zealand. Chester began potting in 1964 after instruction in New Zealand from Shoji Hamada, Takeichi Kawai and Michael Cardew.  He has lectured, built kilns and conducted many firings in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, USA, Korea and Norway.  His woodfired pots show the effects of prolonged firing at high temperatures on raw clay surfaces, using an anagama kiln.  Although the pots have a basic classical form, their individuality is present in the freedom and joy in hand making combined with the magical spontaneity of flame. Chester is a New Zealand potter now living and working in Australia.

PANEL MEMBERS
Peter Rushforth commenced his ceramic training in 1946 at the Royal Institute of Technology, in Melbourne. He continued his studies at the National Gallery School in Melbourne, and then the National Art School in Sydney. A former Head of the Ceramic Department at the National Art School, he has travelled extensively in the UK, Denmark, the USA and Japan. He now works full time as a potter at Shipley in the Blue Mountains.

Janet Mansfield is one of Australia’s most respected and well known ambassadors for Australian ceramics. Mansfield travels widely, participating in many symposiums, conferences and exhibitions. She is currently President of the International Academy of Ceramics. Other awards include: Award of the Australian Ceramic Society (1986); Order of Australia Medal for her services to Art, especially ceramics (1987) and an Emeritus Award for Art from the Australia Council. Janet Mansfield is also known for her salt glaze wood fired ceramics, which are collected and exhibited internationally.

Carol and Arthur Rosser are potters and conservationists living in a rural location in tropical Australia. Long woodfirings in their anagama kiln yield natural ash effects and wood is used in the salt-glaze kilns for economy and for the pleasure of the process. Arthur Rosser has designed and maintains an excellent website for all those interested in wood firing. Their commitment and research into woodfiring has contributed hugely to Australian wood firing knowledge and interest over the past twenty years.

Bill Samuels has been a teacher of ceramics for many years at the National Art School. During this time he has also continued a strong studio practice from his Blue Mountains home,  and has continued to exhibit his work. His commitment and understanding of shino type glazes places him in high regard with collectors and colleagues. Most recently, he has moved away from the vessel form, to make sculptural pieces, expressing a shift in his philosophical beliefs.

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott made her first pots at Sturt under Ivan McMeekin. Gwyn is internationally acclaimed as one of the world’s significant ceramic artists. With a career spanning over fifty years, the unique character of her fine wood fired porcelain has been iconic in its influence, and has set a benchmark for quality, having significant impact on ceramic expression.  In recognition of her work, the National Gallery of Victoria hosted a large retrospective in 2006.  (Gwyn was unable to attend)

Owen Rye has made considerable contributions to the knowledge and interest in wood firing over the past thirty years through a strong commitment to this genre, in his teaching, writing, making and study. He studied with Ivan McMeekin at the University of NSW, and went on to complete a PhD in 1970, developing porcelain clay bodies from Australian materials at a time when no such bodies were commercially available. He was a senior lecturer at the Gippsland Centre for Art and Design for nearly twenty years, and in this capacity, mentored and taught and wide group of ceramic practitioners. Owen Rye has written over fifty articles on ceramics, and is an active participant in contemporary debate on wood firing.

Rowitha Wulff has been a teacher of ceramics for many years at the National Art School. Roswitha has continued a strong making practice during this time, maintaining a productive workshop in an inner South Sydney suburb where she continues to wood fire. She has designed a clever solution to her kiln firing needs, in acknowledgement of the urban environment where she lives.

5.         International Perspectives on Australian Wood Fired Ceramics

This forum asked panel members to comment on how they viewed Australian wood fired ceramics, from the perspective of the international viewpoint.

CHAIR  Peter Rushforth commenced his ceramic training in 1946 at the Royal Institute of Technology, in Melbourne. He continued his studies at the National Gallery School in Melbourne, and then the National Art School in Sydney. A former Head of the Ceramic Department at the National Art School, he has travelled extensively in the UK, Denmark, the USA and Japan. He now works full time as a potter at Shipley in the Blue Mountains. Through his many years of teaching, and ceramic practice, Peter Rushforth has influenced generations of potters, and has left a strong legacy for the history of the studio ceramics movement.

PANEL MEMBERS
Coll Minogue began woodfiring in 1980, and has exhibited regularly since that time. A regular attendee of conferences and symposiums all over the world, Coll Minogue, along with Robert Sanderson, publishes a magazine entirely devoted to wood firing – The Log Book. They continue to fire with wood wherever possible.

Yasuo Terada is a fourth generation artist potter from Seto in Japan.  Known in his home country as a highly respected potter, he is also a master kiln builder, educator and a great ambassador for Japanese ceramics. Terada travels regularly, bringing with him the wisdom of Japanese tradition coupled with enthusiasm for experimentation, two qualities he will reveal at Sturt WoodFire when he makes and fires at the Conference.

John Freeland has been an avid collector of early Australian ceramics for many years. In 2005, he became Director of Ceramic Art Gallery, in Paddington, Sydney, which specialised in high quality exhibitions of Australian contemporary ceramics and is unique in its support for exhibitions of high quality woodfired ceramics.

Owen Rye has had a considerable impact on the knowledge and interest in wood firing over the past thirty years through a strong commitment to this genre, in his teaching, writing, making and research. He studied with Ivan McMeekin at the University of NSW, and went on to complete a PhD in 1970, developing porcelain clay bodies from Australian materials at a time when no such bodies were commercially available. He was a senior lecturer at the Gippsland Centre for Art and Design for nearly twenty years, and in this capacity, mentored and taught and wide group of ceramic practitioners. Owen Rye has written over fifty articles on ceramics, and is an active participant in contemporary debate on wood firing.

Ron Meyers is one of America’s well known ceramic artists. For over thirty years, he has exhibited and taught all over the USA.  He is renowned for the expressive nature of his work, painting coloured brushwork on earthenware, or incising directly into raw clay. With his recent move from low fired earthenware into higher fired wood firing, Ron Meyers will bring a highly informed yet fresh approach to wood firing aesthetics, and play a pivotal role in the quality of discussion at Sturt WoodFire 2008.

INDIVIDUAL PRESENTATIONS

Geoff Crispin – Woodfiring in West Timor
Geoff Crispin is a potter from Whiteman Creek, Northern Rivers, NSW, who has worked over many years in third world countries, from Africa to South East Asia, assisting small industry projects towards developing sustainable livelihoods. At the beginning of 2008, he worked with the village people of Weprimata in West Timor, and showed images and talked about his experiences and wood firing practices from this country.

Keith Rice-Jones – Canadian Wood Firing
Canadian Wood Firing represented a variety of potters, their kilns and firing ethos: their work and some specifically Canadian issues. In what is perhaps a reflection of Canadian society, Canadian potters tend to draw inspiration from a variety of cultural sources. The major focus of this presentation was on British Columbia potters and ranged from large community kilns to smaller individual kilns; from Bizen style through rich varied shinos to different approaches to salting.

Neil Hoffmann – Geology and Genealogy – Imaginings of Genesis
Neil illustrated his arts practice as it has moved through recent years, a period in which he has explored clay and wood fire to feed his imagination for early life – essentially a dissertation on the development of his sculptural work and its relationship to his interest in utilitarian pot making.

Markus Böhm – Germany for WoodFirers. A very personal view.
Markus gave a flash light on the woodfiring scene in Germany – especially in East Germany. He spoke about traditions, history, actors, actions, kilns, clay bodies and more.

John Edye - Woodfiring in Egypt – Contemporary Folk Potters of Cairo and Rural Egypt
For three summers John Edye has been working in Cairo as a technical adviser to an aid project that is developing an export market for pots made by Egyptian folk potters. Most of the potters he has have been working with fire their traditional updraught kilns with wood. The domestic market for their pots is diminishing, with the introduction of plastic and metal alternatives, and they are being required to deal with pollution control and fuel supply issues related to their kilns. As this is a very labour intensive industry, the creation of a new market will help to maintain employment. However quality control and technical limitations are hampering the growth of this export market. These are issues facing traditional potters in developing countries all around the world and are in complete contrast to the considerations of wood firers in the “developed” world. This talk, and slide presentation, covered some of the history plus the inevitable, but not necessarily desirable, changes to techniques and aesthetics that are occurring.

Dr Gary Hill – Honorary Associate, School of Visual Art and Design, La Trobe University,  Melbourne - Char Char Char
Every woodfiring potter has a pet theory on how to fire a kiln, but do we understand what actually occurs when we burn wood? This talk discussed the process of combustion and explored the relationship between these principles and temperature and atmospheric conditions within the kiln. With an understanding of what is occurring within the kiln, potters are better equipped to react to the ever changing demands of reaching the desired temperature and controlling kiln atmosphere during the course of the firing.

Stewart Scambler – Sustainability in the Studio
Stewart Scambler talked about his approach to sustainability in a woodfired studio. This included a discussion around Stewart’s idea around planting trees and his overview of West Australian woodfire practice.

Ben Richardson – A Material Legacy
This talk presented Ben’s approach to making, illustrated with environmental images and poetic journal writing. It outlined a material legacy influenced by the thinking and writing of Ivan McMeekin and expressed through the extensive research into indigenous materials initiated by Gwyn Hanssen Pigott while she was living and making in Tasmania in the 1970's. From these early influences, Ben’s making journey has become an intense investigation through local materials of place based making - an expression of where he lives, works and plays. This has been a way of finding his forms and voices of making as he seeks to express both a local and regional identity and a wider and deeper cultural relevance in times of rapid social change.

Michael Macguire and Dave Zdrazil – Use of native slips from USA for colour in firing
This panel discussed the impact of native clay slips on creative visual expression in wood firing. The presenters showed images of their own work and/or the work of other artists, and approached the topic from the varied standpoints of artists and educators. The art of flashing and green glass has become standard in the wood fired community, who are subsequently disappointed with the results of different shades of greys and browns. The quest is to find a balance between the fire and self-expression. Most local clays have a type of mineral composition that gives not only its physical appearance but its fired appearance as well. Refining, preparing, applying and firing the clay to high temperatures develops a surface that only post modern aesthetic could achieve through centuries of tradition. To achieve a balanced composition in each finished piece is the definitive result of a successful combination of form and surface quality while maintaining selected traditional and cultural values. The ultimate aim is to contribute to the development of a paradigm shift in contemporary American wood fired ceramics.

Steve Harrison – Wood Firing Using local Mittagong materials
Steve Harrison has lived in the Southern Highlands near Mittagong for the past 32 years. He has been interested for some time in a sense of place, the 'terroir' of a locality. He gained his PhD in the use of local materials of the Mittagong area. “Nearly all of my work is made from raw materials that I process myself and collect in my immediate locality. All of my work is wood fired using timber collected locally and my kiln is built from home made firebricks made from local bauxite”. Steve Harrison has done a lot of research into prospecting/fossicking of local raw materials from the local district, principally in the area that used to be the old Mittagong Shire. He has discovered several new exciting sources of useful raw materials and processes that were hitherto unknown to potters.

Coll Minoque – Women Pioneers of Woodfiring
Over many years, Coll Minogue has made observations about the roles of women who wood fire. This paper examines the pioneering roles that many of these women have taken, and documents women wood firers from all over the world.

Ray Cavill – Controlled Reduction
Ray Cavill looked at kiln design and how this influences emissions during reduction. Ray has investigated this topic extensively as part of his Masters research. He also spoke about legislative issues, CSIRO research, and the comparisons between wood burning kilns and other carbon producing emissions (from cars, houses and air travel).

John Henderson – Tea Ceremony
John Henderson has been a practitioner of tea for some twenty-five years.  He studied at Midorikai, Urasenke School, in Kyoto, Japan and was granted the tea name Soei, an honour conferred on those who reach a superior level of practice.  For many years John has been a senior teacher of the Urasenke tradition of tea in Sydney.  John prepared tea and spoke on the aesthetics and function of tea ware, and its evolutionary nature.  “Tea is not a museum piece, but a living thing that changes to meet the needs of each new generation… Although tea teaches a traditional philosophy that seemingly makes tea people all over the world members of a specific subculture, one cannot expect a Zen priest to see life in the same way as a Christian housewife or for us to see the world as our great grand parents saw the world.  As tea moves from time to time, culture to culture, and subculture to subculture, the equipment chosen for a tea event (if honest and not a mere copy of the traditional) changes to express the reality of person, time and place.”

Robert Sanderson – Wood Firing in Education – Issues around Education - Woodfiring in education in an Australian context
Robert Sanderson looked at “education” in the broadest possible sense, and his perception that extensive wood fire facilities were widely available in colleges of education and universities in Australian in the past and that wood firing had a major role within ceramics departments. At the same time, very few colleges in either Britain or Ireland offered wood firing facilities. Is the position of wood firing still as strong or has its popularity declined? Did wood firing in an educational sense reach a peak some ten to fifteen years ago? These are the questions, which will be explored in this session.

 Arthur Rosser - Controlled Cooling in Anagamas
The degree of oxidation and reduction at various stages of cooling of anagama firings coupled with natural ash deposits has a dramatic effect on the final colours achieved. While it is difficult to sort out the variables relating to the type of wood used, the clay bodies employed, and the interaction of applied slips or glazes with the ash deposits, it is possible to use a cooling cycle which inhibits brown and enhances red flashing. A tentative theory of why this happens was proposed, and practical details of inducing reduction during cooling will be discussed.

SPECIAL AWARD

Coll Minogue and Robert Sanderson from The Log Book, generously offered to award a chosen work from the exhibition Watch This Space.  The award had the overall value of $A600 to be made up of the special box set containing a full set of: back issues of The Log Book 1 – 20 (5 years) together with an index; back issues 21 to 32 (three years) and also two years subscription (to run from issues 33 to 40). The recipient of this award, wass announced by Janet Mansfield at the opening of Watch This Space, on Sunday evening, at 5.30pm. The winner of this award was Su Hanna, with her piece Longing for Rain.

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