The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 49 No 1 April 2010

Focus: Wood-Firing
International and Australian
Wood-fired Ceramics
Coli Minogue and Robert Sanderson (editors and publishers of The Log Book)
give a brief personal overview
The idea of establishing an international magazine dedicated to wood-firing and wood-fired ceramics
occurred to us as we were nearing completion of our book Wood-fired Ceramics - Contemporary
Practices in the late 1990s. In the final stages of producing the book, it became apparent that such a
magazine would be a logical progression as a means of keeping in touch with and connecting woodfirers
worldwide (before the term 'blog' was ever invented). Our aim was to create an ongoing resource
and archive for all with an interest in the subject, be they professionals, wood-fire potters/ceramic artists.
students. collectors, curators, archaeologists or any other relevant category.
As it happened, both our book and the first issue of The Log Book - a modest, 20-page journal
printed in a single colour (not black, but a turquoisey-blue-black!) - were published in February 2000.
Our observations of developments in wood-firing and wood-fired ceramics at an international level
during the past ten years have very much been influenced by our experiences with The Log Book. Th is
has not just been through the editorial material we have received for consideration for publication, but
also the travelling entailed and the conferences and other specialist wood-fire events we have attended,
mostly in the USA, Australia and Europe, and also in parts of Asia.
There have definitely been changes in the field of wood-firing within this time. At one level. these
changes could be viewed quite pessimistically - particularly the changes linked to current trends in
ceramics education in general, such as the closing of departments within universities and colleges as has
happened in Scotland, for instance. Also. the imposition of more stringent health and safety regulations
has had an impact on the provision of wood-fire facil ities in education, certainly within Australia, as we
learned at the Sturt wood-fire conference in 2008.
However, countering this, it has been our experience that there is a groundswell of enthusiasm
amongst a younger generation of woodfirers - particularly in the USA, where many universities continue
to offer opportunities for students to wood-fire, as was evident from a show of hands by the audience
during a panel discussion at the 2007 NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts)
conference.
While there may be a decrease in opportunities to wood-fire in third level colleges, ceramic centres
offering wood-fire facilities to artists in residence continue to be popular choices for gaining experience
of wood-firing. In addition to the many centres throughout the USA, there are others such as
Guldageraard (Skaelskm) in Denmark and Kecskemet in Hungary.
On viSiting Australia for the first time in the early 1980s, we were very aware that many potters were
researching and using locally obtained materials in developing both clay bodies and glazes. It would
62 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRil 2010