For four days and nights, a group of potters on the New South Wales Southern Highlands eagerly watched over and stoked the fire inside a 5-metre-long anagama Kiln containing close to 1,000 items.

The annual ritual, usually held as winter draws to a close at the Sturt gallery and art studios, saw 25 potters collaborate with master potters. 

An Anagama Kiln is the traditional kiln used to create Japanese pottery.

Using Japanese naming conventions ana means cave and gama means kiln, in essence, a climbing kiln.

“The anagama kiln takes a lot of work to prepare as it holds a lot of ceramic works and requires a lot of wood,” Kristie Phelan, head of Sturt, said.

According to Ms Phelan, the gallery and functioning art studios are a thriving artistic hub.

Founded in 1941 by Winifred West, Sturt is synonymous with pottery and Australia’s oldest design centre.

“Winifred wanted to set up something that was all about creating in tune with nature and bringing master makers from all over the world to live and teach and share their skills,” Ms Phelan said.

An ancient artform

Sturt’s association with Japan began when the founding potters travelled there to study the kilns.

“We get master potters from all over the country who converge at Sturt to fire it [the kiln], and we have students from all over Australia come and learn how to do it as well because there are only a few in Australia,” Ms Phelan said.

She said wood firing was addictive because there were so many variables such as the temperature of the air and the type of wood used that meant potters never got the same results twice.

“All the different variables make something unique so when the fire dances up and down the tunnel kiln it creates all different effects with different glazes, all different clay bodies, creating a magic alchemy that goes on inside the kiln,” Ms Phelan said.

During last week’s event, participants agreed to undertake six-hour shifts watching over the kiln.

“It’s not for the faint-hearted but people are coming from all over Australia to learn from masters who really are a breed of their own.” 

A little bit of mystery

Jann Kesby is a legendary wood firer who started her training at Sturt in the 70s under Ian Mackay.

Kesby, who owns and operates her own anagama kiln in Kempsey, returns to Sturt to share her knowledge, partly because wood firing is fun and addictive even if it is also stressful.

“There’s a lot invested when you are firing a wood kiln,” Kesby said.

“You’ve spent months making work and then you pack the kiln, so anxiety levels go up because there is a little bit of mystery about what’s going to happen.

“An anagama kiln is a cross draft kiln which means the flame travels from the firebox through all the wares, exiting at the back of the kiln.

“Often, they are constructed on a hill, so the flame is actually moving up.”

Stacking packs a punch

Kesby said there was a technique in stacking and packing the kiln.

“Not all pots are just packed vertically on their base, they are packed against one another, they are packed on top of one another, they are laid on their side,” she said.

Ceramicists loading the kiln must navigate through the tunnel, placing items in such a way as to mentally “paint with fire” as it rushes through the kiln.

“You try to imagine you are the flame, how the flame is going to move around the pot,” Kesby said.

“You don’t want the flame to race through the kiln, so you are packing the kiln to create some resistance and you want the pots to absorb the heat and not [have it] race straight out the chimney.”

A beacon of creativity

The anagama, which was fired for four days and nights and then had three-and-half days to cool.

Wood-fired pots often depict where flames and ash have travelled within the kiln on the way to the chimney. 

Anna Rapp, 21, who works at the Canberra Potters Society, felt extremely pleased with how her pots turned out.

“They have some beautiful ash deposits, and I am overjoyed,” she said.

“They are better than I expected.”

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