The Art of Wood Firing

Above is a slide show of wood fired work by local potter Nancy Magnusson and other potters in the region.   Over the next week, I will be following Nancy and her group through a 40 hour wood firing in Tolland, MA. 

Seven years ago, Nancy Magnusson created a new life for herself.  She left her corporate job in Hartford and became a full time potter.  What makes her even more unique to the region is that she, along with some potter friends, built a wood fired kiln on her property in Tolland, Massachusetts, a rural town just above the Connecticut boarder. 

While the effects of using wood during the firing process create a very desirable and marketable product, wood firing is a long, arduous task that must be embraced by a community of artists rather than one individual.  Despite the amount of hours required for wood firing, Nancy has had little trouble surrounding herself with potters from around the region who are equally devoted to the craft.  While I can’t come close to putting in the hours required to fully contribute to the process, I am one of those devoted followers. 

It takes about 17 days to prep for one firing, and that doesn’t including actually making the pottery.  It takes 3 full days with 3 people involved to cut, split and stack the 2 cords of wood needed, four hours to clean up of the mess created by all of the chopping and stacking and nearly two days to clean and prep the kiln.  It takes four potters a full day to load all of the pottery into the kiln and another day to build the doors, brick by brick, that enclose the pottery.

As she works through the process she repeats to herself her mantra “Nancy, you’re a potter and potters have kilns.”  Although they don’t usually have kilns that require this much labor.

Clearly, she loves the process as much as the finished piece.  “When you put that piece in the kiln you have to walk away from it and let the wood and fire do its magic.  There are a range of possibilities for its outcome and you need to accept that.” 

Once the kiln is enclosed, Nancy creates detailed instructions for the 40 hour firing and organizes her team into 6 hour shifts.  Nancy built a two chamber kiln that resembles two igloos stuck together. 

Wood firing started in Korea around the 5th century, but the Japanese are credited with coming up with the Anagama style kiln that Nancy and other wood fire potters around the world use today.  Anagama is a Japanese term meaning cave kiln and consists of a firing area at one end of the kiln and a flue at the other.

Nancy loves what she does and is eager to express her passion to anyone who will listen.  “I look at certain pieces and I’m almost brought to tears.”