Building Character

The Associate Dean at Sheridan asked me why wood firing was important to the program. I answered it taught ceramic history, clay and glaze aesthetics, combustion, hard work, team work and it builds character. We have just finished a month of making and wood firing with two really incredible groups.  How can you build character when you are given a collection of real characters to begin with? I've been home since Friday night and I'm still tired. Had a wee nooner today. I neglected you all in blog land since I felt the weight of hitting a couple of home runs and sending everyone home with a load of nice pots. If you ever want to take a workshop I can not recommend Bruce Dehnert too highly. He is AMAZING! Everyone loved him and his work. And for us he is low maintenance which is nice when you're trying to pull this kind of workshop off.
Also a special thanks to my man Herm. Herm hauled, prepared and  covered the wood which no one knows how important that job is until you have a kiln to get to Cone 12.
And to all the characters that were part of this program a tip of my hat. I don't give compliments unless I mean them so you know how much I think of y'all! We had two killer firings and I have a feeling these groups will toss sticks together again. Bon feu!