POMONA, CA.-The American Museum of Ceramic Art will present “Into the Woods,” a Fiery Tale, March 8th –May3rd, 2008. In Japan, where pottery is an integral part of the culture, firing in a wood-burning kiln is practiced as a time-honored tradition. “Into the Woods,” a Fiery Tale is aligned with the current enthusiasm for wood-fired ceramics in the United States. The exhibit will present work by seven noted ceramicists who specialize in this technique, including Fred Olsen, Peter Callas, Jeff Shapiro, Chris Gustin, Takao Okazaki, Catharine Hiersoux, and John Balistreri. Subtlety, abstraction, asymmetry, and intended imperfection give wood-fired pieces a meditative quality, compelling the viewer to pause, examine, and reflect upon uncommon beauty.

In ceramics, the “hot” commodity today is wood-fired ceramics. In Japan, where pottery is an integral part of the culture, firing in a wood-burning kiln is practiced as a time-honored tradition, with strong ties to the tea ceremony and to the Japanese philosophy of beauty. In the United States, the Industrial Revolution, with its reliance on cheap energy - coal and electricity - put most small potteries out of business, and with them, the practice of wood firing. After World War II, there was a resurgence of interest in ceramic studies and during the 1960s and ‘70s a few students apprenticed themselves to Japanese masters. On their return to the states, some built their own versions of the anagama kiln, the Japanese term for a long tunnel kiln built up-hill.

Among this first wave of wood-fire enthusiasts is Fred Olsen who mentored Peter Callas. Both were developmental pioneers in the new-to-America trend. Examples by Olsen and Callas will be the foundation of “Into the Woods,” a Fiery Tale, along with pieces by legendary wood-fired ceramic experts, Jeff Shapiro and Chris Gustin. Work by Japan’s Takao Okazaki, who has maintained a studio in the US for 10 years, Catharine Hiersoux who is famous for her porcelain forms, and John Balistreri, the youngest of the group, representing the second wave of wood-fire ceramicists, will also be presented.

Whereas many potters depend on the form, construction, surface treatment, or glaze as means to create significant, individual expression, wood-fire ceramicists rely on the kiln as their primary tool. “Into the Woods,” a Fiery Tale will delve into the wood-fire process, its strategies and variations. The pieces shown will exhibit many of the possibilities achievable through use of this technique. Secondly, the exhibition will explore the aesthetic required to appreciate wood-fired ceramics, both from the ancient Japanese point of view which honors beauty as found in nature, and from the newly-evolved American position. The fascination for these seven ceramic artists lies in the challenge of harnessing the elusive and recreating the unexplainable. Yet, at the same time, it is the surprise element and the unpredictability that sustains their passion.

The beauty of wood-fired ceramics lies in subtlety, abstraction, asymmetry, and imperfection. The pieces are marked by the flame, colored by the kiln atmosphere, christened by ash deposits, and freckled by erupting impurities. There are teabowls, bottles and plates, bowl and gourd shapes, cylinders and slab-built columns, and sculptural forms of all shapes and sizes. The common element among all the pieces is a meditative, spiritual quality that compels the viewer to pause, examine, and reflect on the uncommon beauty of the works.