Put another log on the fire

Vipoo Srivilasa (via Graham Mercer) just forwarded me a link to this movie Kamataki that looks interesting, to say the least!! Kamataki means ‘firing the pottery’ and the movie is based around a young American chap who goes to Japan to stay with his estranged Japanese uncle after a family tragedy, only to have his inner fire rekindled by the flames of the anagama!! Curiouser and curiouser! It’s worth checking out the website for the soundtrack alone – it’s beautiful, and I can only imagine the visuals would be quite spectacular with an anagama firing central to the plot! It was filmed in Shigaraki and in the studio of the Japanese potter Shiho Kanzaki, and won a slew of awards in Canada.

Way back in the beginning I was an avid woodfirer! Hard to believe when you look at the kind of work I do now!! I still love the process, and a lot of the pots I collect are woodfired. I’m a sucker for it.

I’m going out on a real limb now and am going to post some pics of my first woodfired pots I made while I was a student…just remember this was almost ten years ago…!!

From this…..
to this….! crikey!

Here's a great documentary on woodfiring if anyone is interested. Lots of interviews with all the big names....Janet Mansfield, Chester Nealie, Jeff Shapiro, Owen Rye, Chuck Hindes, and my own awesome teachers Tony Nankervis and John Nealy...awwww...I'm getting all nostalgic now!