Potters, Neil Tregear and Molly Attrill, come together to celebrate the completion of the Island’s first high temperature wood-fired kiln.

Pots from the new kiln will be displayed alongside many fine pieces from their own workshops, reflecting their distinctive styles and extensive experiences of woodfiring; Molly in France and Canada, Neil in the porcelain workshops of Kyoto, Japan.

This unique exhibition chronicles the considerable technical opportunities and challenges provided by this valuable resource.

Neil first encountered high temperature wood-fired kilns during his apprenticeship in Japan.

They ranged from the huge tunnel kilns of Shigaraki, the ‘rifle’ kilns of Tamba, to the slow firing kilns of Bizen.

Each kiln site is known for different styles and glazes but united by a desire to achieve the results that only wood can provide. In Arita, in the far south of Japan, wood-firing is used to produce the finest celadon porcelain.

The Chinese refer to celadon as ‘Blue as the sky after rain’. This glaze, wood-fired on porcelain, is for Neil, the most rewarding of all. With his kiln, built here on the Isle of Wight, Neil can now produce just that reward. This exhibition is a celebration of that achievement.

Molly states that the only way to test a kiln – to really get to know how it works – is to gamble, what may have been months of work to the fire.

The equally testing challenge (which for Molly remains a ‘work-in-progress’) is to find a new palette of slips and glazes and where best they work in the kiln.

In our age of computer-programmed electric kilns, which virtually fire themselves, it is no longer essential to battle with the variables of weather or flame to make fine pots.

But, the rewards from using wood as a fuel (and the hours of ‘back-breaking’ stoking) can be seen in the effects which can only be achieved from wood-firing.

For example, the exquisite slim white porcelain bottle made by Neil, which has just a blush of fly-ash speckling on the shoulder – like the delicate surface of a bird’s egg – and Molly’s completely contrasting earthy dishes with an interior glaze simply made with wood ash and clay from the cliffs of Brook beach, which were fired rim to rim so the unglazed surfaces would be toasted by the flames.

Sealed tightly within the dark chamber of the kiln my pots are gently cooling. It will be three days before the chamber is sufficiently cool to start un-bricking the door. Only then will its secrets be revealed. This is the calm after the storm.

Joint Drinks Reception: Michael West and Learning Curve
Gallery, Sat 22 Aug 2 – 4 pm All Welcome

Talk: Thu 3 Sept 6 – 8 pm Anthony Minghella Theatre FREE Entry (To book seats please call Box Office 01983 822490)

Photo by Richard Boll

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