COLUMBIA

Canadian Woodfiring: Denman Island, B.C. and Hythe, Alberta

Woodfiring Part 6, by Keith Rice-Jones

With this article, Keith completes his series on Canadian woodfiring. Parts
one through five of the series were published in the October, November, and
December 2008 and February and April 2009 editions of this newsletter.

To wrap up this series on Canadian woodfiring, we return to B.C.
via Alberta. I have grouped these two potters together as both of them
use a variety of kilns. Also, Japanese potters were a large help and
influence in the building of both of their major kilns. Both potters are
also transplants in a way: Gordon Hutchens from Michigan, settling
on Denman Island, and Bibi Clement, originally from Holland then
becoming a raku potter in B.C. before moving to the Peace Country.

Bibi has an amazing set-up in Hythe and has an ongoing collaboration
with Master Potter Yasuo Terada from Seto, Japan. Yasuo is fourth
generation in his family pottery dynasty and the title comes from his
father, Bizan, who came over to Hythe with Yasuo one year and threw
all the chimney sections when they were building the Bishigama.
Yasuo’s son Teppei is fifth generation and the sixth generation is in the
wings but too young to throw pots! Celia and I originally met Yasuo
in 1997 and later returned to Seto and worked with him in 2002,
helping to fire the enormous Ogama. A truly amazing experience!

‘The kiln that Yasuo built with Bibi is called the Bishogama: "bisho"
stands for Bizan and "Bibi", means "flying high,” in memory of a
balloon flight over the Peace Country with Yasuo and Teppei in 1999.
It also stands for "flying ash and flame.” All of these meanings are
important in the Japanese way of thinking.

‘The kiln is an Anagama, 26 feet long, 350 cubic feet with a large
nobori chamber at the end—about four shelves wide and deep and
seven feet high.

In addition, Bibi has a double-chamber wood/gas and salt kiln. The
first chamber can be fired on the six gas burners, which is a shorter
and more efficient firing, and may be used more in the future for more
predictable and saleable work. Currently, the seduction of the woodfired
ware reigns! The wood firings run about 40 hours. Anything less does
not give sufficient ash effects to make the wood firing worthwhile.
‘The cross-draught second chamber can give awesome results but, with
the dense bricks, takes at least 50 hours to reach temperature. It’s not
an easy beast and it is usually Bibi’s stubbornness that gets things
through.

“T can't give up after all that effort and knowing what this kiln gives
in the end,” says Bibi. “It’s priceless, just gorgeous work that we can't
get in any other firing. So...we hang in.”

Yasuo and Bibi will be exhibiting work this year including a large
installation by Bibi (see http://prairiegallery.com/exhibitions/)

Gordon Hutchens on Denman Island took two years of planning
and construction to realize the long-held dream of a wood fired kiln.
Gordon became interested in pottery and the Japanese anagama kilns
simultaneously while still in high school. At age 14, he saw several
examples of the real thing in Japan and has continued to carry those
images in his mind ever since.

When Gordon chose his Denman Island property more than 20
years ago, it was with an eye to good sites for his own anagama kiln.
Many years later, he became involved in the building of the two
renowned Tozan kilns at Malaspina College in Nanaimo, thus meeting
the world master of this style of anagama and noborigama kiln, Yukio

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter - May 2009

Gordon Hutchens' climbing kiln
(below), stacked ware (right) and
dinner! (below, right)

Denman Island, B.C.

Bibi Clement's kiln complex (above, left) and woodfired jar (above,
right), Hythe, Alberta.

Yamamoto. Gordon subsequently designed and built his kiln, the
fourth of its kind in the world, under the guidance of Dr. Yamamoto
between August 1996 and April 1998.

‘The kiln climbs a natural slope, which ensures the draw of heat from
the main firebox at the front of the 300-cubic-foot interior space to
the back chamber. Nine inches of fire brick is covered with a mixture
of sandy clay from the site, mixed with as much perlite as possible.
Embedded in this mud covering are as many miscellaneous scraps of
insulating material as could be found.

‘This attention to superior insulation has resulted in a kiln that fired
exceptionally evenly and in less time than Gordon expected—two and
a half days instead of a possible four or five.

‘The pots themselves have a more natural and primitive feel than the
highly technical pieces he usually produces. Each piece tells its own
story of how it was caressed by the flame and wood ash flowing together
through the pots stacked in the chamber, the ash forming its own
blushes and flashes of colour as it progressively settles on the pieces.

Many of the most interesting pots are not glazed at all. Those glazes
that Gordon developed and tested in this firing were ones that he
suspected would be enhanced by the interactions within the kiln. The
kiln alternates between oxidation and reduction as the wood is loaded
approximately every 10 minutes.

"The possibilities are literally infinite,” says Gordon. @

Thanks to Patricia Lonsdale for the information on Gordon’ Kiln.