Pit Firing and Ceramics

The process and a selection of work

Keven Francis

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Pit Firing at ANU

Working the Pit: A discussion of process and meaning

By: Keven Francis

The Ref. Francis, K. (2010). "Working the Pit." Australian Ceramics, 49/3(November 2010): 73-75.

Risk, flames, smoke, sparks and spontaneity are the elements that excite and drive an obsession with the transformational power of fire and its influence on our physical and emotional perception.

An immersion in the process of working the pit, over several decades has enabled me to come to a strong conceptual framework based on the theme of transition. This theme is a common intent in my art practice across ceramics, painting and sculpture.

I have become focused on a threshold or divide between states expressed as the strong hard edge produced by the fire’s carbonisation of ceramic and timber. This sharp dividing line is integral to my work as it denotes a link of one existence or experience from another. This link can also be considered as a separate emotional and physical state in the space between before and after, such as the flux created by the burning fire pit.

My selection of palm sized pinch pots, as a medium of expression, was driven by their potential to carry personal sensitivity and tactility of the artists’ hand plus their robustness when confronted with movement during the firing process and radical temperature changes.

My current ceramic work involves the building of hundreds of burnished pinch pots that are pit fired in small groups of about 30 pieces and installed as collectives of over 200 pieces. They are seated on thick clear glass, which is raised about a centimeter off a paper base, to provide tension between the weight of the many pots and a sense of being suspended. In some installations small pieces of charcoal are placed on the paper to increase the perception of elevation and as a direct reference to the pit firing.

Creating the small palm size pots is an obsessive process, with each piece gently molded and then burnished leaving faint ripples around the surface, accentuating its tactility. Once burnished, the pots go through a sintering process, to approximately 700c, to maximize their strength and provide some resistance against the firing process.

Building the pit is an inventive process. I have dug small holes in the back yard or used out of the ground boxes including the firebox of a medium size wood kiln. The critical aspect to selecting and building a pit is ensuring the ability to control the pit’s atmosphere whilst the fire is raging.

The pit firings are swift and intense with a strong element of risk and spontaneity. The process takes 45 minutes from stacking to withdrawing the pieces and involves reaching into the flames to selectively burn out embedded carbon from the ceramic. An intrigue that has grown for me is the immediacy and frenetic pace of the surging fires that eventually gives way to a stillness and reflective vision of pots sitting calmly within the fire’s embers.

The process of firing commences by stacking layers of hard and soft wood over pots that are sitting in saw dust. When ignited, the struggle begins to control the rate of temperature increase, which requires continuous interaction and an intuitive eye, as the different timbers burn at various rates and temperatures. During the process the pit cover is raised and lowered to control the fire’s intensity and the pits atmosphere. Protective clothing and respiratory equipment is essential during the firing as the atmosphere around the fire is thick with smoke and the flames have the propensity to serge.

At the point where all the timber has fully ignited, the flames reduced and the pots sufficiently infused with carbon, burning hard wood is laid across the pots to selectively remove carbon and reveal a sharp separation, between dark and clear ceramic. The burning hard wood is cut in straight pieces and so burns out straight lines across the pit. Consequently the pots are all marked with straight lines, but when removed and stacked the perception is altered and these lines become curved.

As the end of the firing approaches pieces that are identified as complete are removed to cool at ambient temperature and await a light wash to remove any ash.

Looking for a way to extend my engagement with the pit firings I began using freshly withdrawn pots, timber and charcoal to create scorched paper works. This produces indexical marks that echo the firing event and relay the quiet residue of its intensity. The fine spontaneous charcoal marks sit on the paper whilst laying flat and then appear to float when the work is hung.

The contrast between the high energy of working in the fire pit and the meditative process of burnishing hundreds of small pots illustrates my approach to my art practice and the contradictions I seek to instill in my work.

The stacked pots are still, but invoke suspension when installed as a collective or stand alone quietly as a separate art piece and the scorched works relay a sense of the heat of the fire and the stillness on observing calm embers.

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