VASE
porcelain (#37)
10 days anagama firing using all white pine
natural ash glaze
7 in. tall x 4 in. at widest
$350

IGA TSUBO
anagama firing for 5 days in firebox
tamarack for fuel
coiled and thrown on the kickwheel
19.5 in. tall x 16 in. at widest
$2,500

HEMISPHERES
stoneware
multi-fired, natural ash and a some salt glaze
13 in. tall x 12 in. wide
$500

FLOATING VESSEL (2 views)
multi clay 6 day anagama fired
natural ash and iron ore bearing glaze
9.5 in. tall x 13 in. diameter
$450

 

Statement:

We, Lee and Yolande, live, love and work together, with the help of our little buddha-boy Horus, in rural New Brunswick. We divide our time between our church/studio in Florenceville-Bristol and our kilns and solar-powered home in the backwoods. Lee is one of North America's most talented woodfiring potters and kiln builders, and has been working as a professional artist/sculptor for over ten years. Yolande apprenticed with Lee for three years and currently pursues ceramic art, painting and writing.

Woodfiring is our path and our passion; it is a spiritual calling and the focus of our life. Described by collectors as the jewels of ceramic art, woodfired pottery is the most complex, difficult, ancient, profound, durable, and magical way to fire clay. The anagama (tube chamber) was developed in Korea and introduced to Japan in the fifth century, remaining a huge influence on Japanese ceramic art for many centuries. The Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi (beauty in the imperfections of nature) is strongly tied to woodfired ceramics, the ritual of Japanese tea ceremony and Zen Buddhism. These practices are associated with the revival of the anagama in Japanese culture, and the introduction of this firing method to the west. In North America, the anagama has only been in use for the past thirty to forty years.

In 1999 Lee traveled to Japan for the first time which led to his meeting and firing with Shiho Kanzaki, the Shigaraki-based Japanese master of anagama. Like Kanzaki, our primary interest lies in firing with no applied chemical glaze, and instead maintaining enough heat in our kiln to achieve spontaneously, through the alchemical interactions between clay, wood and fire, a natural ash glaze dripping with constellations of brilliant colour. Our kiln, the 27 foot long Little River Anagama (the first incarnation of which Lee built in 1998, based on Kanzaki's design) is usually fired twice a year. It takes us several months to make enough work to fill the kiln, several weeks to acquire, cut and split the many cords of sustainably harvested wood that we burn, and several days to pack the kiln with work placed precisely on the kiln shelves. We fire for between 8-11 days, during which the fire must be stoked every 3-5 minutes, 24 hours a day, for the entire 8-11 day duration. Over the course of this time, the ash from the wood burned is carried by the flames through the kiln, and lands on the many pieces. When the heat reaches 1300 degrees celcius, the wood-ash melts to create the entirely natural glaze.

Unique among most contemporary woodfiring ceramicists, we fire intuitively, without the use of cones or pyrometers, technology which, in our experience, detracts from the essential spontaneity of the process and from our deeper ability to understand the kiln's sensitivities and responses. In addition to the anagama, we also fire shino ware in our box-style wood kiln and woodfire raku. For us, firing is a family affair, a spiritual journey, and a profound ritual. It is humbling and joyful to push our bodies and the work of our hands to their utmost limit. With every stoke, the vessels and sculptures we make are bathed in light and purified by the intensity of the flames. Firing a wood-kiln is an extremely high risk endeavour, and each piece that we make and which survives the trial by fire, is utterly unique, and one-of-a kind. In a world over-full of mass-produced, disposable items, many see woodfiring as the antithesis of consumer irrelevancy, and as a philsophical and aesthetic balm for our age. In and of themselves, our works are beautiful, complex, non-hazardous (unlike most raku pottery), and suitable for use, both formally and day-to-day. We hope that your new cup (or vase) brings you happiness--that it makes sacred the pouring into, and the drinking from.