To Boldly Go where no Wood Firing has gone before..............1nto the Net

I have just joined Arizona Clay (equivalent to the Potters Guild), as 1am hoping to spend part of
the winters there potting. My first newsletter from Arizona had the enclosed article about Jack Troy,
and having just finished reading Sam Kwan's review of Troy’s book in the Guild's November
Newsletter. I thought the additional information would be of interest.

Rita Rowbotham

PS.
Magazine section.

(The following is reprinted from the
Arizona Clay News which, in turn,
retrieved it from the Net.)

“Fireside with Jack"
An anagama firing workshop with
Jack Troy

A more bizarre confluence of archaic
and modem technology than that
which resulted in Jack Troy coming
out and firing with us is hard to
imagine. Thanks to the 'net’, or more
specifically, to E-mail, Jack and |
bumped into each other on the web
waves, or whatever it is that caries
these messages across the world,
and established the possibility of him
dropping in on Melbourne towards
the end of his east coast of Australia
book-launch-kiln-crawl. Next thing
we know there we were standing by
this heaving technologically
anachronistic beast with its much
patinaed, fire-fissured and cracked
old hide watching wood crackle and
spit into white-hot oblivion as we side
stoke on the third and last day of a
very exciting and rewarding
firing... AS Jack points out in his book
in the section on wood-firing and
education, participating in an event
such as this can be _ incredibly
valuable, not only for the enthusiasts
of this tradition but on a number of
different levels for all sorts of
students.

Jack rolled up at our studio as we

were about halfway through
packing the kiln and immediately
threw some pots which within two
hours were turned, dry, glazed and
in the kiln which in itself was enough
to spin out some of us who had
been in preparation for waeks. We
have a relatively small anagama kiln
here at the Victoria College of the
Arts and it is located right in the
Central Business District, which to
most people seems fridiculous.
Someone during the firing coined
the term ‘Urban-gama’ which
adequately describes an
experience where the traffic noise
never stops except for about an
hour early Sunday moming. It
amazes even myself that up till now
no one has come around and said
"Hey what do you think you are
doing?” Despite the urban
surroundings, the feeling from the
beginning of the workshop was
great and continued on through due
to the warmth and generosity of this
spirited potter and teacher, and the
co-operative nature of the partici-
pants....Interspersed with the firing
proper, Jack would be giving
impromptu throwing demos and the
whole time he was working, he was
jawing away in his unique, lilting
drawl about pots and clay but also
about psychology, geology,
literature and art and life in a way
that had students with not the

vaguest interest in pottery

Jack Troy's .Woodfired Stoneware and Porcelain. is indeed available in the Gallery Book and

sitting in rapt contemplation.

After the fire had been going for a
couple of days we had a projector
set up next to the kiln and we were
able to listen to Jack talk about his
work and influences as the fire
crackled alongside us and the
people on the shift didn’t have to
miss out. | found it interesting to
hand over the reins of the kiln to
someone else and to observe a
completely different approach to
firing the beast. Particularly
interesting about this was that after
all, the kiln exerted her own will on
the event and the outcome was very
similar to our normal expectations.
Yes, the results were good.

To anyone who would like to fire
with Jack but is notin a position to
do so, | would suggest that you set
up a copy of his book (Woodfired
Stoneware and Porcelain) beside
you while you stoke. It is written
with a great deal of warmth and
humanity which you get from the
guy and has the best information of
a technical nature that you could
ask for.

Martin Beaver, August 1995

Jack's e-mail address:

troy @j Liuniata edu
Martins e-mail address:
martinbeaver@muwayf unimelb.
edu.au