Firing Log

In this installment of the Firing Log podcast, we travel to Wisconsin where Simon Levin fires an anagama kiln.

Download the episode directly or through iTunes (mp3, 60:00, 55mb).

Note: The iTunes link requires iTunes to be installed on your computer. If you do not have iTunes, use the “direct” link — it is probably most convenient to right click the link, choose “save as” from the context menu, and then listen to the file in your preferred player after it has downloaded.

Update: Simon now has work available for sale in the Oten Gallery Shop.

Simon was consumed by wood fire pottery to such an extent, it overwhelmed his original aspirations for a legal career. Choosing instead to become an artist devoted to capturing the imprint of flame in his work, Simon has had remarkable success.

Photo gallery of Simon’s work.

Simon’s pottery is beautiful, and springs from his deep understanding of wood fired kilns and his thoughtful technique with clay. The years he has spent learning to build and fire wood kilns has clearly paid off in his work as can be seen in the photo gallery related to this podcast, and at his online shop. There is more to Simon however, then the pottery he produces. There is an intellect and understanding behind the work which takes his skill to strange and wonderful places.

Simon built a wood fired kiln in East Timor in order to enable local production of water filtration equipment. In essence, he turned his knowledge of wood fired ceramic art, and pointed it toward the production of potable water for an entire village. There is a social beauty in the fact that Simon’s understanding of wood firing has directly and fundamentally improved living conditions for many people.

In addition to the East Timor kiln, Simon has built anagamas at Mill Creek, Southern Illinois University (Edwardsville), Corning Community College (see the entry on Fred Herbst), and Syracuse University.

Simon has published a number of articles, many of which deal with developing a philosophy toward ceramic art. During the podcast, he discusses how philosophy and metaphor can be helpful in guiding one’s work, and suggests methods for sparking new ideas or refining old ones.

In truth, there was barely enough time in the allotted hour and some topics were necessarily left out. For example:

• Simon has an online store showcasing his ceramic art.
• Simon is hosting a wood fire workshop with Linda Christianson (additional info) in Kentucky from March 8-13, 2007.
• And of course, there is Adobe who provides kiln dog balance to the kiln’s cats here.

Not exactly big news in the universe, a store is born every day on mothership earth, but I’m excited nonetheless. Anyone browsing this site on Jan. 17, between 9:00 and 9:30 pm (PST), saw it happen. There were definite convulsions as the new files I prepared on my home server were transferred up and last minute glitches eliminated. With the exception of one particularly recalcitrant positioning issue in the header menu when moving to the photo albums, things should be stable for a while now.

As for the “Oten Gallery”, my plan is simple and I wonder why I had not thought of it earlier. After doing a couple podcasts it suddenly occurred to me that it would be nice to run an online gallery. I would get to handle many pots made by many potters, and potters who might find it difficult to trade their wood fired wares could have an outlet which reaches a broader audience (presuming of course it works out in the long run).

Setting up shop has been a real learning experience. Some fun and some not so much.  Figuring out new software packages was hard and often frustrating.  Learning how to use a light tent to take pictures of the pieces I received has been much more fun. In any event, the dreary part is over and I’m looking forward to the chance to see many fine pieces of wood fired pottery in the future.