Not only is Guilford getting a new Naborigama wood-burning kiln, but Bill van Gilder is here working with students to build it.
Maybe this doesn’t mean anything to you, but in the ceramics community this is big.
As part of the Asian Studies grant Guilford received last year, van Gilder came to build a Naborigama kiln. This design is based on the self-supporting arch, or “catenary,” used in Japanese multi-chambered kilns.
His design for Guilford’s newest kiln is somewhat different. This one includes a preheating firebox along with a main chamber firebox.
Van Gilder explained the reason for these kilns. “The technique of wood firing comes to us from Asia and the work that is produced from these kilns is very subtle and has a warm feeling. Literally, the flame decorates the pots as it moves through the chamber, licking the pots and leaving an indelible mark. These are pots that are very easy to live with.”
Van Gilder has worked with pottery since he was 15 years old. His resume includes two years of intensive study at the Harrow School of the Arts in London in the early 70’s and six years in Africa working with the World.
He now creates his own pottery in Gapland Central, Maryland. He owns the Fredrick Pottery School and teaches at the Art League in Alexandria, Virginia.
In 2004, HGTV will begin airing Clayworks, his new pottery series.
Charlie Tefft, Lecturer of Ceramics, met van Gilder in a Baltimore ceramics workshop, working on a kiln similar to the one being built at Guilford. “The big reason to bring [van Gilder] was his knowledge of this kiln. It’s hard to find someone to do it and do it well.”
Money for this project also came from the Art Alliance in downtown Greensboro, and community members will also be able to use this kiln to fire several times a year. No other college in the area has this type of kiln.
Van Gilder said, “The interactivity of this kiln makes it an ideal educational tool. It teaches us patience, about the usefulness of fire, about spontaneity of flame and clay, and it broadens our acceptance of unimagined results, which I think helps us grow as human beings.