Women Woodfirers Panel at the ‘20 + 1 years of Tozan Kilns Woodfire Conference’
NAU, Flagstaff, Arizona – October 2006  
(download the msword file)

I have been involved in woodfiring since I was first introduced to the process whilst working with Janet Mansfield in Australia, in 1983. This involvement has included the roles of professional potter, lecturer, workshop leader, kiln builder, and in more recent years author and publisher.

Over the years I have participated in many specialist woodfire conferences / seminars / workshops in the USA, France and Australia. At some of these events there happened to be all male panels on various topics, often of a technical nature, such as kiln design. As far as I was aware there had not been an all female panel at any of these events. It occurred to me that it would be of interest to moderate a women woodfirers panel discussion, in which a group of women at different stages in their development as woodfire artists would describe their experience of, and involvement in woodfiring.

Before introducing the five women woodfirers on the panel – Micki Schloessingk (Wales); Davie Reneau (USA); Charity Davis-Woodward (USA); Linda Lid (Norway) and Tara Wilson (USA), by way of introduction to the topic my contribution to the discussion was in the form of some brief musings.

Women and Woodfiring go back a long way. Many experts consider that the first potters were women and it is generally accepted that the first pottery was wood-fired in open bon fires or shallow pits. These methods of firing have continued to be used by women in traditional cultures in many parts of the world, including in most of the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. (The first image showed hand built pots being stacked in readiness for firing in Northern Nigeria in the 1960s.)

In a more recent series of images taken in the mid 1990s in Burkina Faso, West Africa, large hand built jars were being stacked on wood in preparation for a firing. The firing of over 170 pots took an hour, using wood and dry grass as fuel – and not a man in sight! (Images 2, 3 and 4)

So we can assume that this is how it all began and continued for many thousands of years until things started to get more technical, which some researchers believe coincided with men becoming involved in the production of pottery. In his book The Art of Ancient Cyprus, thezoologist Desmond Morris states: ‘Once the technology of the potter’s wheel has arrived on the scene the process of making pots becomes more one of ‘machine operation’ and production line efficiency, and the males take over the social role of pottery artists.’ (1)

As far as is known the potters wheel was used almost exclusively by men following its development in, or introduction to different cultures. An illustration from a mid-15th century playing card from Germany is often interpreted as being a rare, early example of a woman throwing on a potters wheel. (Image 5) In her book Women Potters – Transforming Traditions Moira Vincentelli (2) suggests that the woman is not in fact throwing a pot, but decorating one using a bone comb.

The woodfiring of pottery also became more complicated. (Image 6) An illustration from The Three Books of the Potter’s Art by Cipriano Piccolpasso (3) written in 1557 and describing maiolica production in Italy at that time, shows an up-draught kiln being fired – not a woman in sight!

From here then I fast forward some four hundred years to the studio pottery movement and the resurgence of woodfiring in areas such as North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand and some of the women pioneers of woodfiring. Names that come to mind include Gwyn Hanssen Pigott (working in U.K., France and later Australia) and Ruth Gowdy McKinley (working in USA and later Canada). In France there was Anne Kjaersgaard. There were I am sure many other women who made significant contributions to the development of wood-fired ceramics.

A little later, in the late 1970’s and early 1980s – Anne Stannard and Karen Karnes built woodfire kilns in the USA; and in Australia Sandy Lockwood and Janet Mansfield were building kilns. In the U.K. one of the first women to build a woodfire kiln was Micki Schloessingk, who built a kiln for saltglazing in the early 1970s.

Micki then gave her presentation, followed in turn by Davie, Charity, Linda and Tara. Afterwards there was a lively discussion with many interesting contributions from members of the audience.

Coll Minogue is an Irish potter and author. With her husband Robert Sanderson she co-wrote Woodfired Ceramics Contemporary Practices (A & C Black (London); University of Pennsylvania Press (USA); Craftsman House (Australia), 2000). Together they edit and publish the international woodfire magazine – The Log Book.  www.thelogbook.net.

Notes:
(1) The Art of Ancient Cyprus by Desmond Morris, Phaidon Press, 1985. Page 16.
(2) Women Potters – Transforming Traditions byMoira Vincentelli, Rutgers University Press, 2004. Page 25.
(3) The Three Books of the Potter’s Art by Cipriano Piccolpasso (1557), translated and introduced by R. Lightbown and A. Caiger-Smith, London, 1980.