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FEATURED PROFILE: Gustin Ceramics
When pottery making is portrayed in films or literature, it’s generally the potter who is shown, clay-covered and dusty, throwing forms on a wheel. After all, when it comes to the creative process, it’s the creator who typically gets top billing.
But for one exceptional kiln in South Dartmouth, the magic isn’t in the throwing, it’s in the firing.
Located in the picturesque FarmCoast area of southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, this rare Anagama kiln is used to fire pots the old fashioned way – by burning wood.
Owned and run by potter Chris Gustin, the kiln is fired two to three times a year, bringing together a dozen or more artists to collectively pack, stoke and unload its five chambers. The firing takes place in Gustin’s backyard, which at one time had been a chicken farm but now is Gustin’s home, studio and gallery space. It’s a centuries-old process that takes five, round-the-clock days, from start to finish. For Gustin, a ceramic artist for nearly 40 years, firing this way makes sense for many reasons —aesthetically, philosophically, even practically.
Unlike most 21st century experiences, the Anagama kiln is a process which requires patience and many hands, to get right. It evokes a time when an entire village contributed to the making of each pot.
“This is like being back in the 17th century,” he said. “It’s fantastic.”
“You’ve got to be with it for eight hours,” he added, referring to the time each artist will put into nurturing kiln temperatures in a single, fire-stoking shift.Gustin spoke about the wood fire kiln, its impact on his work, and the unique experience it provides compared to more traditional gas-fired kilns on a recent spring morning, when the kiln had cooled enough to allow local ceramists to begin unloading it.
The firing process, he said, is complex, requiring those stoking to be aware of many factors simultaneously and able to respond quickly to each in order to build temperatures accurately.
“There are 1,000 decisions a minute,” Gustin said about the stoking process. It’s a little like a symphony with all the right notes needing to be played to bring the flames to a crescendo, according to Gustin, who said the air inside the first chamber must reach a certain temperature before the second is fired.
This domino process continues, he explained, until the final chamber is fired, with each successive section taking less time to reach its target temperature.
Although artists who participate do most of the stoking over 50 to 60 eight-hour shifts, Gustin oversees the process, sometimes taking a shift but always checking on the process.
“I make sure all the temperature marks are hit when they need to be hit,” he said. He explained it is the path of air carrying the heat and wood ash through the chambers that makes the glaze and determines how it attaches to the pots inside.
Each firing is different, Gustin said, even if minutely. As the ash flows through the chambers it touches and settles on pots in seemingly random ways, creating the glaze. It is nearly impossible to predict what patterns the ash will leave behind not just because they depend on the nature of the fire, but also because other variations, like the way the heat is built up or the oxidation process, influence results.
But, far from frustrating the artist, this measure ofunpredictability in an otherwise scientific process, excites Gustin. Wood firing keeps him honest, he said. “It takes skills from learning; but something else is always thrown in your face to kind of say, ‘ha ha’,” he said.
The path the wood ash travels, the thickness with which it layers a piece, and the patterns it leaves can all be guessed at through experience and tested by experimentation. Gustin uses test pots to determine if a glaze is one he wants to use on a particular piece. He also tries out varying points inside the kiln to see what location will suit the piece best. There’s no way to guarantee that his experiments can be successfully duplicated, but, Gustin said, “That’s part of the fun of it.”
The front chamber, he explained, tends to get more wood ashonto the pots, resulting in greater variation in the final product. “It’s more violent. With the velocity of the flame, it tends to get a heavier ash build up. It’s rougher, more dramatic, and less subtle,” he said. The back sections, conversely, can result in much more subtle glazes.
The kiln’s front chamber is its largest one. In fact, looked at from its side, the front half of the kiln looks a little like a beached whale with its large raised tail forming the second chamber. But there the analogy stops because the final three chambers, extending from the tail, look more like humps on a camel’s back.
For this latest unloading, the dozen or so artists present are joined by neighbors and friends who came to enjoy the process and take advantage of a chance to see the newly fired pieces. As each object is pulled from the kiln, it is transferred to pallets set up under small tents and labeled with each artist’s name.Unloading all five chambers can take four to six hours, even with a dozen people contributing. It’s slow work, not just because of the care taken with each piece, but also because of the sheer numbers involved.
The large kiln can hold as many as 1,000 clay pieces for each firing, according to Gustin, with all shapes and sizes represented from the smallest coffee mugs to vases standing three feet or higher.
To start, several artists including Gustin, begin pulling pieces from the front chamber which, as the largest section, will allow one or two individuals to crouch inside it to reach fired objects.
Others gather at a side opening forming a line from the opening to the tents that looks appropriately enough like a fire brigade.
Pieces, especially the smaller ones, are handed from person to person until the final person identifies the correct pallet to place the object on. Larger, significantly heavier work is generally carried to a pallet by one person who bypasses the line altogether.
As work continues, there is plenty of camaraderie and conversation, with comments on the pieces coming from all sides. Sometimes it’s the object’s creator who will exclaim in delight at a particular outcome while other times it is his or her colleagues or other onlookers.
In some ways, it’s a little like Christmas with many ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ heard as particularly stunning colors and shapes emerge from the kiln, like gifts from under the Christmas tree.
It’s been a good firing and everyone seems happy. Although a fewpieces show slight cracks in them and several are stuck to the shelves they were fired on, for the most part the fired objects are meeting or exceeding expectations.
One newcomer, Dave Katz, is particularly excited to see his work. This is his first firing at the Gustin studio and, as he ducks into the front chamber, he’s visibly excited to see his finished vase.
“Oh man, I’m so stoked,” he said. “I’ve never gotten to fire with Chris before.”
“Everyone’s jazzed,” agreed Gustin, noting the group’s mood.
For all the care taken in unloading the kiln, the process still can’t compare to the intricate work of getting all the pots arranged inside the chambers.
Try imagining putting a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle together with fragile puzzle pieces that must each be secured on shelves and arranged, not just so that they fit, but so that the path of wood ash moving through the spaces between them can provide the best application of glaze. It’s a daunting task but one where Gustin’s many years of experience comes in handy. Watching him, one gets the impression that he has done this enough to allow him to complete the task intuitively. It’s similar to how the artist builds his pots. The outcome may be largely due to skill and experience. But, like the Anagama kiln, there is another element, a hard-to-define quality that must come into play to make the product exceptional. “It’s got to transcend the skill level,” Gustin explained. “Skill is something you need but it is also a detriment because if you rely only on skill then the outcome can be very cold... You want to get to this place where you let go of everything anyone has ever taught you, to get to another place, to a pure place.”
Gustin’s work ranges from ceramic tiles and sculpture, to large scale vessels and functional pieces. For more information, including upcoming wood firings, gallery exhibits and events, visit www.gustinceramics.com