ARTS & CULTURE
Drawn to the Flame
The Anagama Story Wood firing is an ancient practice that demands extraordinary attention to feeding the flame over five days. The anagama kiln is a hand-built brick oven descended from an ancient Japanese wood-firing kiln. The flame, smoke and ash combine to create unique one-of-a-kind patterns on each vessel. Anagama kilns, which can be built in various sizes and shapes, have a devoted following around the world.
Photos provided by Morean Workshop Space
BY MARCIA BIGGS Things will be heating up the first three weeks of January when potters and ceramic artists from across the country converge in St. Pete’s Warehouse Arts District for an annual ritual that centers around a massive wood-burning kiln. Florida Heat, A Wood Fire Workshop, brings top-notch instructors and up to 45 participants together January 3-18 for learning and camaraderie at the Morean Workshop Space and Morean Center for Clay. One could almost call it St. Pete’s own toned-down version of Burning Man festival. But in this case, the object of adoration is a 30-foot-long brick kiln known as an anagama kiln which must be lovingly loaded and fed with wood, then tended over a week to 10 days to reach the proper firing temperature of 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Instructor Matt Long shows a piece of pottery as it’s removed from the anagama kiln.
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StPeteLifeMag.com
January/February 2024
The annual event, with a registration fee of $895, requires participants to ship their unfired pieces to the Morean prior to the start date. Some 700 to 1,000 individual works will carefully be loaded into the 500-cubic-foot kiln over two to three days, then the door is finally bricked up for another five days of firing around the clock.
