Visiting An Old Friend

It's been a while since I've had time to write. Recently, I teamed up with Matt Kelleher and fired the salt/soda kiln at the Penland School of Crafts. This kiln was built at the Barns by Tracy Dotson and Suze Lindsay in 1993(?). During my residency(1998-2001) I repaired the kiln every other firing. Something was either melting, sagging, or cracking, but the kiln produced some nice pots. This kiln is a true survivor. At 14+ years old it's had quite a history. Suze fired the kiln during her residency, then Terry Gess fired the kiln until 1998, and I came along and fired it until 2001. The kiln somehow escaped demolition and in 2005 Matt and his wife Shoko Teruyama became residents and Matt revived the kiln. I must say it is firing very nicely (thanks to Matt's kiln compassion!). Old salt kilns never die, they just slowly melt away. Here are some of the pots we got out the kiln last week.