Ceramics major Tom Alward used recycled materials and reused fire bricks to build a small, experimental kiln on the NAU campus. Photo by Elizabeth Hellstern

Student builds potential
with ceramics kiln

Tom Alward has laid the foundation for creativity by building a wood-fire kiln at the Northern Arizona University ceramics complex.

With the help of an NAU Hooper Undergraduate Award and under the mentorship of Jason Hess, associate professor in the School of Art, the full-time ceramics student has created a small, experimental kiln using low-budget building techniques.

"This kiln is a little bit smaller and easier to load and fire with just a couple of people," Alward said. "There is a much quicker turnaround."

Unique elements of Alward's kiln include space for stacking pots in the chimney to produce flame patterns, larger rooms for firewood to increase the texture and glaze of the pottery surfaces and a separate chamber for salt-glazing, which produces a shinier surface on the ceramics.

"This is a refinement of my experiences here—to build a kiln that would more successfully yield the pieces that have been calling me," Alward said.

Alward was responsible for leveling the ground, landscaping the area and drawing the plans using Japanese design principles. He used recycled materials and reused fire bricks.

"One of the things we teach here is how to build a kiln," Hess said. "It's part of the learning process. Making art and building things is considered research."

Alward will use recycled drum barrels for the chimneys of the kiln and create Japanese totamis, arches made with hand-shaped cones of fire clay and sand. The first firing of the kiln will harden the arches.

"It will be fun to see smoke coming out of the chimneys," Alward said. "To be able to sit back and actually have the kiln done will be a really happy moment."