1St European Woodfire Conference

1st European Woodfire Conference

Bröllin Castle, Germany

2-5 September 2010

A report by Nina Shand and Paul de Jongh

It was over two years ago when we first heard that a European Wood-firing conference was being organised in Germany for 2010. The costs were prohibitive for us so we gave up any thought of going. I then had a chance discussion with someone who suggested we try the National Arts Council for funding. And sure enough, they have a specific funding category to pay for airfares to conferences. We applied but did not hold much hope of being successful. The outcome of applications was posted on their website on 22 August and to our surprise, our names appeared on the list of successful applicants. The conference was from 4-7 September, giving us very little time to get organised!

So it was with great relief that Paul and I were finally seated on a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul on 31 August and another to Berlin. We arranged to meet some other international potters arriving early for the conference at the airport –from Australia, Japan and America- and travelled together to a town called Pasewalk, North of Berlin and close to the Polish border. The conference was held in a 12th century castle, known as Bröllin, - a huge manorial estate in the east of what was formerly East Germany – from 2-5 September. The location was perfect for the conference as it not only had large barns to be used as exhibition and demonstration spaces and but also large open spaces and courtyards for the more practical aspects of the conference. Formerly a deserted country estate, Broellin has been transformed into one of the largest venues in Germany for interdisciplinary arts, cultural events and performances.

The estate © Steffen Bohl

One of the courtyards © Steffen Bohl

Billed as “The First European Woodfire Conference”, the event was more of an international conference, with representation from USA, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Tanzania, Canada, Nigeria and of course, South Africa. Most European countries were represented, particularly Poland, Estonia, Germany, Finland, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Lithuania and the Netherlands. Many former Eastern Block countries have a strong woodfire tradition because of the unavailability of alternative technology and lack of commodity goods for sale in the economy. 225 people attended the conference, the international breakdown was as follows:

Germany / 110 / Nigeria / 3
USA / 17 / France / 3
Australia / 11 / South Africa / 2
Denmark / 7 / Canada / 2
Estonia / 7 / Spain / 2
Ireland / 8 / Poland / 2
Czech republic / 5 / Austria / 2
Netherlands / 4 / Japan / 2
Switzerland / 4 / England / 2
Lithuania / 4 / Finland,Sweden,Portugal, New Zealand, Tanzania / 1

On offer were events ranging from academic lectures and films, to more practical kiln firings and demonstrations, a kiln building competition as well as an opportunity to exhibit work. During the conference “12 different timbers – 12 different types of fly ash” was in progress where students from 3 local vocational colleges were testing what surfaces different European timbers give. They built 10 mini anagamas of around 2 cubic feet which were fired for 24 hours with one kind of timber each. On Sunday afternoon, the kilns were opened and we were able to see the different results.

The mini anagamas © Steffen Bohl

Other kilns and kiln firings:

- Mateusz Grobelny, a polish potter, brought a wood-fired kiln on a trailer to the workshop, which he assembled and fired

- Lowell Baker demonstrated a small version of his sawdust injection burner

- Imke Splittberger did a smoke firing in a drum filled with sawdust, pieces of wood and bark, dry foliage and straw which was fired for about 4 hours

- Michael Salzer fired the “Phoenix” woodfired kiln

- A paper kiln was made and fired

- The “First Broellin Freestyle Kilnbuilding Championships were held, where teams were invited to build functional, beautiful kilns in 7 hours flat!

The polish mobile kiln © Steffen Bohl

The sawdust injection kiln © Steffen Bohl

The kilnbuilding champion © Steffen Bohl

In addition, there had been 2 kiln building workshops in the 5 days prior to the conference which were fired and opened. The one was “Building and firing the Little Ripper” with Owen Rye, and other “Raku kiln building” with Stephan Jakob.

The ikea raku kilns © Steffen Bohl

The conference was officially opened on Thursday evening by Janet Mansfield from Australia and Markus Böhm, from Germany and the main organiser of the event. They also opened one of the two exhibitions that were held - an exhibition of the participants’ work. Each participant was invited to exhibit and about half took up the opportunity, including ourselves. We swopped a few pots and even managed to sell one! We found prices the prices for wood-fired work to be far higher than anything we could hope to sell for here. The second exhibition was titled: “Wood-fired Ceramics from Scandinavia”, brought from Guldageraard, an international ceramic research centre in Denmark.

Each day of the conference was dedicated to a relevant theme: Day 1: Wood-firing with an international overview; Day 2: Wood-firing and the Environment, as well as Wood-firing and Education; Day 3: The Aesthetics of Wood-firing. Our kilns and annual wood-firing Jamboree were presented in the opening of the panel discussion on Day 1 by Priscilla Mouritzen, a South African living in Denmark. She gave a glowing account of our kilns and work and showed some slides which she had taken on one of her trips here. All the discussions were translated either into English or German depending on the speaker from a translation booth and headsets were available.

On Saturday night, the exhibition of participant’s work was closed by one of the Log Book editors, Coll Minogue. She presented The Log Book award to the most promising student with work on exhibition. Everyone packed away their work to clear the barn for a wood-fire party, bonfire and dance, which went on long into the night. We were awoken on Sunday morning at 5am by some of the younger participants finally getting to bed!

The “White Heat” film festival was held simultaneously – where possible the producer/director of the film was introduced before the screening and available to moderate discussion afterwards. The idea was not just to watch films but to use them as a springboard for discussion and an exchange of ideas. A highlight for us was “Mat und Pat – The Potters” – an episode from a Czech children’s favourite where their dishes are dirty or broken and Mat and Pat simply throw themselves new pots. Also “Dragon Fire” – a 150-year old Kannofen was restored and fired over the watch of the Bohmers in Germany – a Kannofen is a traditional type of updraft wood-fired kiln in Germany. We also enjoyed Douglas Balwin’s “Great Duck Ceramic School” – a satire of ceramic majors from 1985. Paul really enjoyed a film portrait of Doug Fitch, a British earthenware potter and wood-firer.

Two making demonstrations took place: the first with Paul Davies and the second, Robert Barron, both from Australia. Unfortunately, we got so caught up in the panel discussions that we missed the Paul David demonstration, and only caught the second half of the Robert Barron one. He threw the neck of a large coiled vessel and attached handles, as well as a large jug using a wheel that made not a sound!

At the end of the conference, all the firebricks were auctioned off and carried away by some happy looking potters. Unfortunately, we had weight restrictions to think about! All in all the conference was well considered and well organised. We are grateful to the National Arts Council for affording us the opportunity to attend.