Pit Firing
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Pit Firing *
Pit firing is one of the oldest ceramic firing methods, rooted in ancestral knowledge and communal making. This process embraces unpredictability, fire, and earth allowing each piece to be shaped not only by the maker, but by the elements themselves.
Work is fired outdoors in a hand-built pit, layered with wood, organic materials, and minerals. As the fire burns and cools, smoke and flame interact directly with the clay, leaving behind rich surface markings like flashes, carbon trapping, and natural variations that can never be replicated. No two pieces are ever the same.
Pit firing is both a technical and spiritual practice. It slows down the making process and honors patience, chance, and surrender. The act of gathering around a fire, loading, tending, and unloading together creates a shared ritual that connects us to ancient ceramic traditions and to one another.
Pit-fired work carries the memory of the fire within it. These pieces are not about perfection, but presence: a record of time, place, and transformation.
What to Bring:
Bisqueware: Bring an already bisque fired pot!
Organic Materials (optional): Any organic materials that are completely dried. Coffee grounds, eggshells, tea leaves, banana peels, seaweed, corn husks, etc.
Potluck Dish (optional): A special dish celebrating your favorite food. If not, make sure to bring a meal, there is also delicious food in the mission. Let’s keep it as plastic free as possible, we have utensils, knives, cups, and some plates in the studio.
Optional:
Create a vessel for pit fire day at least 2 weeks before firing day at an Artillery’s open studio day. We will bisque fire it for you! Register online.
Notes:
The firing schedule may vary, so be prepared for flexibility.
Ensure your potluck dish is easy to share.
We will keep posted if weather does not permit for this activity & will re -schedule. For example, fires or rain.
Join us for a day of artistic exploration through learning about firing and community bonding. We look forward to seeing you at the studio!
*Scholarships + Sliding-Scale available by emailing ceramics@artillery-ag.com . (NOTAFLOF)