WAUKESHA – As the semester draws to a close, the University of Wisconsin–Waukesha art department is preparing to fire both its kilns. They are located at the campus’s Field Station on Waterville Road in Oconomowoc.
The smaller Bourry Box wood kiln, fired only the three times since it was built last summer, will see action this Friday, April 25, holding the work of students in the introductory and intermediate ceramics classes.
On Friday and Saturday, April 25 and 26, students also will load the 450-cubic-foot Anagama-type kiln and prepare it for its 8th firing since it was built in summer 1997. Once started on Wednesday morning, April 30, that fire will require round-the-clock tending, concluding around 10:00 p.m. Saturday, May 3. Cool-down then lasts several days.
Faculty and students from UW-Waukesha, UW-Milwaukee, Carroll College and Mount Mary College will participate in the labor-intensive Anagama-firing process. At its highest intensity, the temperature inside exceeds 2400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Jeff Noska, UW-Waukesha assistant professor of art, invites anyone interested to come to the Field Station and share the experience. “Friday (April 25) offers a great opportunity to see
the small kiln firing and loading of the larger one,” he advises. However, Saturday, May 3, would be the best time to view the Anagama-type kiln firing, with temperatures expected to peak from late afternoon well into the evening, he says. This can be a spectacular sight.
The only ones of their kind in the UW System, the Anagama was modeled after the ancient Japanese kiln, and the Bourry Box was developed in 18th century France. Both use wood for fuel, and each one requires different techniques for successful firing and produces different results. Ceramics fired in Anagama-type kilns are marked by distinctive and intriguing ash glazes. The Bourry Box behaves more like a gas-fired kiln but, with the properly timed addition of sodium, can produce something resembling salt-glazing.
The Field Station is located at 1234 South Waterville Road, Oconomowoc, just south of Hwy. 18.
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