rebuilt as a third year project. We plan to try different designs
and various fuels. Also there is a beat-up outdoor Raku kiln
which needs repair every spring.

The wood burner mentioned above is worth some comment. I have
had a fair amount of experience with different types of kilns, but
this is my first adventure in wood firing to stoneware temperatures,
From the Rhodes kiln book we chose a catenary arched down draft
with a double fire box. Except for a few problems and much
theorizing over the size of the fire boxes, construction proceeded
without difficulty. The kiln was loaded, some pots left unglazed
so that flying ash might produce interesting surfaces. Through
most of the thirty-six hours of firing it took six people working
constantly to keep the temperature climbing, Four chopping and
splitting and two stoking. Two volunteers kept the temperature
constant through a very chilly night. A cord and a half of wood
later, with the cones standing straight, we gave up. After all that
time and work, failure sat heavily on us all. However, the next
day we were delighted to find the pots at the bottom back had
matured and a few were quite successful,

Much was learned from that firing. Soft dry wood split as fine as
possible is a must. Hard wood bums too slow. Next time we
will split the wood ahead of time so that the kiln is not always
one step ahead of us. Occasionally during the firing, the chop-
pers could not keep up with the stokers. The floor will be alter-
ed and blocked out at the back to push the flames to the front,
The kiln is buried in the snow now but come spring we might try
it again,

The isolation of the school is a disadvantage in some ways: most
notably, the difficulty of travelling the many miles to Vancouver
or Calgary to see important shows. To alleviate this problem,
field trips are arranged each term, Last year a group of senior
potters journied to Vancouver to see the "Canadian Ceramics”
exhibition and a most successful visit to Tam Irving's studio,
This year we plan to call on a number of studios in the Okanagan,

Be