New kiln bisques terra cotta pottery

On Sunday, Feb. 4, WS's Art Department fired up its new gas kiln for the 7th time. Purchased through funds raised by the Development Department, the kiln, with a 12-cubic-foot firing chamber, is the newest acquisition of the Ridgewood Clay Center, inaugurated by accomplished potter, Gerry Williams ('42), when he visited Woodstock to claim his Distinguished Alumni Award in March 2006 .

The kiln, which fires at from 1,800 to 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit, produces a bisquing of terra cotta, a type of earthenware pottery. Bisquing is the chemical change caused by the high temperature during firing, causing the dried clay (greenware) to becomes cooked and turned into bisqueware. The pots fired on Feb. 4 were created by staff members. Art instructor Joe Demetro also fired a series of test tiles for colored slips and engobes (a mixture of colored clay and melted glass).

Mr. Demetro explains, "The process of ceramics involves a painstaking series of trials of various materials and chemicals to determine how they will respond with the available clay bodies, as well as the firing process of the individual kiln. Slip, engobe, and glaze tests will be ongoing, as successful ones are mixed in bulk and distributed for student use."

In 2007, the Ridgewood Clay Center's program will include MS Saturday Club sessions and individual lessons for interested HS and MS students. A unit for Elementary School Activity Week is also being considered, as well as an established potter-in-residency program.

The Clay Center has already hosted several workshops for ES, MS, and HS, a class unit for Art 11 students, and a Visiting Artists' Workshop. In addition to serving WS's student potters, the Clay Center's studio becomes a leisure-time workplace for several staff members, whose work will be exhibited during the Spring Mela, on April 28, 2007.

Visiting potters, Monica and Ambar Agnihotri, conducted a Workshop on Smoke-Fired Ceramics for 8th and 9th grade students in autumn 2006. The students' pots were placed in an outdoor fire pit; sawdust and ashes protected the vessels from oxidation. The fire pit's action creates what Mr. Demetro describes as "a reduction process, in combination with added salts and copper sulphate, producing shimmering effects on clay surfaces in reds, maroons, oranges, and blacks, with occasional greens." Finished pieces can be admired in a new display area for student work outside the MS office.

All pottery on display in the MS and most of the pieces to be displayed at the Spring Mela will be available for sale-the proceeds will go toward funding the Employees' Housing Renovations.