On Monday (September 27th) after months of preparatory work at the potter’s wheel, and a couple of days of hauling wood from out at Hussy Road, Len Cook’s famous wood-fired Anagama kiln has awoken after a year’s slumber and is erupting flames and smoke as it progressively consumes several cubic metres of wood. Len has stacked the kiln with an impressive array of original pots that will slowly be turned into stunning works of ash-glazed art by late Friday.
It will take several more days of cooling down before Len is able to open the kiln to discover how the pots have been transformed. Despite the years of experience that Len has with this process, it’s never certain how the pots will respond to the sometimes whimsical moods of the Anagama. I am sure that there will be some fantastic results, with most pots destined for art galleries, or the shelves of serious ceramic collectors.