Artist Residency|| Day 4: Fire, Music, Love, and Beer || San Francisco Pottery Studio
A reflection by our studio team member and Seasonal Pit Firing facilitator, Gabriela Montufar, on her artist residency experience in the mountains of Medellín, Colombia. Through clay, land, ritual, and community, Gabriela shares what it means to reconnect with ancestral ways of making. Reflections from Hannah Myers, Gabi's bestie who also participated in the artist residency sprinkled throughout.
Day Four — Fire, Music, Love, and Beer
WHOOOO! FIRING DAY!
Anamariya and Angelo built their kilns from brick, clay, and cow dung. Literal sculptural, living structures emerging directly from the land itself. WOW. We loaded the kiln with our tiny test pieces and creations alongside work from others in the community.
We spent hours feeding the fire together.
There was music playing, beer passing around, stories being shared. The rich smell of the fire and transformation happening enveloped my soul. Hearing The Strokes echo through the Colombian mountains somehow made me feel right at home. We danced barefoot in the mud under the stars to Björk beside the kiln. This became one of those moments I know will live rent free in my membrane forever.
It was ceremonial and communal.
Hannah:
“We also learned about their kiln-building techniques and got to participate in a group firing in kilns they had built themselves. It was actually the very first firing of their newest kiln. It felt monumental for all of us.”
Just friends gathered around earth and fire.
My gratitude extends endlessly to Anamariya and Angelo for sharing their knowledge, home, and love with us; to Kelly and Ivan and the community at Artillery Ceramics Studio; and to clay itself, which continues to guide me toward experiences and opportunities greater than I could
Thank you for reading the 4 Days of Reflections from an Artist Residency we hosted in Colombia.
Curious about ancestral firing practices and earth-centered ceramics in California? We are your place for that.
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