Cross Pollination Through Clay: Baltimore Clayworks
February 28, 2024
Words: Fanni Somogyi
Photography: Justin Tsucalas
Wood firing is one of the biggest community events at Baltimore Clayworks and it is attended by ceramic artists from Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
“I watch Jeremy Wallace, a wood kiln technician, close off the stoking hole with yellow fire bricks, but I can see the red hot glow of flame through small gaps between them. In this “reduction phase,” wood is loaded into the first chamber roughly every five or ten minutes. Ceramicist and technician Matt Gaddie built the two-chamber wood/soda Noborigama, a Japanese term for a climbing kiln. This ascending tunnel of connected chambers has been used in Japan since the 17th century. Wood firing takes an entire day and night with a group of artists on three to six hour shifts, never leaving the kiln unattended.”
