WFC An International Collection of Wood-fired and Sculptural Ceramics 薪窯陶芸と彫刻陶芸 インターナショナル・コレクション Een Internationale Collectie van Houtgestookte en Beeldhouwtechnieken Keramiek Une Collection Internationale du Feu de Bois et Céramique Sculptural ????????????
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Norm Wheeler
Midland, Ontario Canada
I want to produce a surface which proclaims the relationship between fire and clay. Each pot is a testament of what happens within the kiln over the forty to sixty hours of a firing. I single fire raw, unglazed clay forms in a kiln designed to allow the flame to move over, under, around and between the vessels placed within. This flame carries wood ash and other combustion by-products to the pots where they adhere and in time melt to produce the desired surface.
Individual pots are placed within the chamber on their sides; leaning against one another; piled upon one another such that the fire moves over and through the setting. Each individual pot determines what happens to its neighbors. It’s all to do with managing the path of the fire as it draws ash and combustible though the kiln. Color, pattern, and texture are the product of this placement as this ash settles upon revealed surfaces and goes through the melt mandated by the fire.
To view these pots is to begin to read the narrative of any firing for each is a landmark along the way. I create these pots to compose and to begin to understand this narrative. I am enthralled with this fire.
Most recently I have begun to explore the Korean forming technique of Onggi; wherein the clay is coiled; hammered between an anvil and paddle. I find I am drawn to the ‘building’ or construction of forms rather than the turning or throwing of pots. I may begin with a particular form in mind but through due process jar reveals bottle; bottle reverts to jar.. There is energy and pace here which is at the one time invigorating and calming. The challenge, for now, is to explore a tradition to make the contemporary.
Individual pots are placed within the chamber on their sides; leaning against one another; piled upon one another such that the fire moves over and through the setting. Each individual pot determines what happens to its neighbors. It’s all to do with managing the path of the fire as it draws ash and combustible though the kiln. Color, pattern, and texture are the product of this placement as this ash settles upon revealed surfaces and goes through the melt mandated by the fire.
To view these pots is to begin to read the narrative of any firing for each is a landmark along the way. I create these pots to compose and to begin to understand this narrative. I am enthralled with this fire.
Most recently I have begun to explore the Korean forming technique of Onggi; wherein the clay is coiled; hammered between an anvil and paddle. I find I am drawn to the ‘building’ or construction of forms rather than the turning or throwing of pots. I may begin with a particular form in mind but through due process jar reveals bottle; bottle reverts to jar.. There is energy and pace here which is at the one time invigorating and calming. The challenge, for now, is to explore a tradition to make the contemporary.
Norm Wheeler
Midland, Ontario Canada
I want to produce a surface which proclaims the relationship between fire and clay. Each pot is a testament of what happens within the kiln over the forty to sixty hours of a firing. I single fire raw, unglazed clay forms in a kiln designed to allow the flame to move over, under, around and between the vessels placed within. This flame carries wood ash and other combustion by-products to the pots where they adhere and in time melt to produce the desired surface.
Individual pots are placed within the chamber on their sides; leaning against one another; piled upon one another such that the fire moves over and through the setting. Each individual pot determines what happens to its neighbors. It’s all to do with managing the path of the fire as it draws ash and combustible though the kiln. Color, pattern, and texture are the product of this placement as this ash settles upon revealed surfaces and goes through the melt mandated by the fire.
To view these pots is to begin to read the narrative of any firing for each is a landmark along the way. I create these pots to compose and to begin to understand this narrative. I am enthralled with this fire.
Most recently I have begun to explore the Korean forming technique of Onggi; wherein the clay is coiled; hammered between an anvil and paddle. I find I am drawn to the ‘building’ or construction of forms rather than the turning or throwing of pots. I may begin with a particular form in mind but through due process jar reveals bottle; bottle reverts to jar.. There is energy and pace here which is at the one time invigorating and calming. The challenge, for now, is to explore a tradition to make the contemporary.
Individual pots are placed within the chamber on their sides; leaning against one another; piled upon one another such that the fire moves over and through the setting. Each individual pot determines what happens to its neighbors. It’s all to do with managing the path of the fire as it draws ash and combustible though the kiln. Color, pattern, and texture are the product of this placement as this ash settles upon revealed surfaces and goes through the melt mandated by the fire.
To view these pots is to begin to read the narrative of any firing for each is a landmark along the way. I create these pots to compose and to begin to understand this narrative. I am enthralled with this fire.
Most recently I have begun to explore the Korean forming technique of Onggi; wherein the clay is coiled; hammered between an anvil and paddle. I find I am drawn to the ‘building’ or construction of forms rather than the turning or throwing of pots. I may begin with a particular form in mind but through due process jar reveals bottle; bottle reverts to jar.. There is energy and pace here which is at the one time invigorating and calming. The challenge, for now, is to explore a tradition to make the contemporary.
Keywords: norm wheeler
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