I am thrilled to announce my episode on The Potters Cast! Be sure to listen to my interview with Paul, where we talk all things about my practice and wood firing. 

Show Notes: 
What do you love most about the community that is gathered around wood fired pottery?
Oh man, it’s just so much passion. Everyone there is really excited to be there.

Is there a sweet spot in a kiln that you want to see your pieces in?
I like the fire box right in the front of the kiln. I like to have my work touching the ember bed because I really like the texture and color and all the action that happens there. So I want them in the fire.

Is there a right way to bring leadership to a wood firing?
​I think it’s having intention because whether you are intentional or not as a leader you are still going to be influencing and impacting people. So I think it means coming with awareness, coming with the ability to listen, and then also coming with the ability to make decisions and be decisive and communicate that in, I guess, an elegant fashion, with grace.

How do you have control while being a leader in community of where you want their pots to turn out good and you want that sweet spot for your pots?
It’s a mutual trust that has to be involved. The community that comes to fire with me, they are coming to fire with me hopefully because they trust me and they are going to trust my choices. And when you are going to choose to work with someone and you choose to fire with someone you have the opportunity to look at their work and decide if their firing style might or might not work for you. And what’s great about this residency is it changes every two years. If my firing style does not suit someone’s work there is opportunity to work with other people. So I do my best to ensure that everyone’s work is placed in the kiln to best serve the work and the community trusts my choices.

When you build larger pots is there a danger spot where you have to get through this part and then you are good but everything has the potential of falling apart before then?
Like with construction?
Yes.
Not that I have found, for me. I have had a relatively easy time building the forms that I make.

How thick do the walls have to be to support a three foot tall pot?
With my clay I am building about a half inch wide. So objectively thin, it just depends on your clay body, really. Different clays might need to be thicker or thinner. I am building table top size about a quarter of an inch and then the bigger pots I try to keep as thick as my thumb.


How important is wood type for firing?
I feel like the answer is just, Yes. (laughter)  Different woods will burn differently. I’m now from moving from New York to Montana and firing with a completely different type of wood. So that means I am adjusting my clay bodies and firings to suit the wood. The wood is extremely important and what you get is what you get too. So it’s just learning how to work with what is growing near you.

Book Recommendation: Men Explain Things to Me, Rebecca Solnit 

In just a few weeks I will move to Missoula, MT where I will be the next woodfire resident artist at The Clay Studio of Missoula. I'm wrapping my head around big life changes coming up and I have been reflecting on how far I've come in the last two years. I doubled down and focused all of my attention on my studio practice- facing immeasurable growing pains and challenges. I put my work before anything else- call it sacrifice, selfishness, or self-fullness. I pursued woodfiring head on with naïveté, blind innocence and faith that I would find a woodfire community on the East Coast.  Can't wait to see what is in store!! 

A month and a half ago Jessica, business owner extraordinaire of Bloomy Cheese and Provisions, had the idea to collaborate on a food event. We decided to center the experience on ideas about wild processes, tradition, and land. I am grateful to have to opportunity to share my love of woodfired pottery with such an engaged and curious audience. We started the evening with an artist talk, where I shared my ideas and process, then moved to a guided tasting of four expertly paired cheese and wines. I designed and crafted cheese platters and wine cups specifically for this event. We used wildflowers I foraged and blooms from Jessica's yard to adorn the tablescape. I wanted a feral feeling for the arrangements. 

I always envision my ceramics with food. Even as the work leans toward more abstracted objects of utility, they are still meant to be used. When we started placing the ferments on my service trays and saw how much depth, richness, and texture the food added, I got goose bumps. 

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, everyone who made this happen. Thank you, Jessica for the mutual trust required for an event to come together so effortlessly, all the curious folks who joined us, and every single person I've woodfired with over the last year. Special thanks to Charlie Varney, with whom all the cheese plates and wine vessels were fired.

I could not imagine a finer culmination of my time in New York. A perfect confluence of my passions: pottery, food, community, and learning.