Bob McIlhattan has a gift with dirt. Clay more specifically, and no two ways about it, he is a true artist when it comes to mixing, sculpting, forming, and firing this material that the rest of us usually take for granted, and think of only as 'dirt'.
Firing pottery with a woodfired kiln is a near-metaphysical experience. Using the kiln requires months of preparation, several people to tend the fire, and several days to complete the firing cycle. When the kiln is fired, all day and all night someone keeps watch over the kiln as the temperature rises, feeding the fire and charting the temperature rise on a blackboard that stands in the kiln workshop. Most firings go to a temperature of cone 10, or about 2350°.
Exhibiting amazing textures, Bob's pieces are a tactile delight. Part of that comes from the woodfired kiln, and part from Bob's choices of clay. At times he even mixes his own unique clay body, with just the right proportions of clay and 'grog' to give the finished pieces the remarkable sense of touch that he was after.
A pioneer in the art of woodfired pottery, Bob was a key part of building the first Bourry box train kiln in the Pacific Northwest. The results of his work yield unique pieces deep of character, with a rich texture and comforting weight.
The result of all this hard work is an amazing and all-natural glaze that forms over the pieces of pottery. The glaze results from the unique combination of heat, smoke, airflow, and perhaps most influential: ash from the wood fire. Exactly what glaze any particular piece will receive isn't possible to determine beforehand: it's Bob's experience with his kilns that gives the results he is after. And they are amazing result indeed.
With this kind of woodfiring, no two pieces are ever exactly alike. The searing hot wood ash circulates in patterns within the kiln when it is fired, depositing layers of glazed ash in certain areas, and even sculpting and etching away in other places. Firing the kiln is a cooperative effort, feeding the fire at repeated intervals, monitoring and graphing the temperature as it curves upward with just the right arc at just the right time. All day and all night someone keeps watch over the kiln as the temperature rises.
Interestingly, when the kiln is firing there is very little apparent smoke that comes out of the chimney, as it's mostly hot gasses. The Bourry box kiln was developed originally to be an incredibly efficient method of firing. And so as the wood burns, the hot gasses are recirculated within the kiln, again and again reburning the hot wood ash until there is very little smoke.
You can see more of Bob's fine work at his Seven Cedars Pottery website: www.7CedarsPottery.com
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