Ceramics Students Help Stoke the Kiln

Ceramics Instructor Tyler Gundrum has been hard at work over the past couple of days tending the wood-fired kiln next to Holbrook Arts Center. The kiln is filled with pieces created by student, faculty, and visiting artists, finishing at extremely high temperatures.

On Thursday, Gundrum gathered students from his Introduction to Ceramics class around the kiln. After explaining how the heating process works to bring out the unique coloring in the finished ceramics, he had the students work in shifts to help him stoke the fire, which can heat the kiln to temperatures as high as 2300°F.

Students enjoyed feeling the extreme heat emanating from the kiln and peeking through vents to see orange-hot ceramics, wearing thick gloves and jackets to ensure they stayed safe. To keep the fire going over multiple days, Gundrum enlisted the help of five artist friends, who manned the kiln in overnight shifts.

Millbrook’s kiln was built by a group of faculty artists in 2010. Gundrum noted that when he first joined the faculty at Millbrook, the kiln was a largely forgotten part of campus—so much so that during a tour of his new workplace, it was pointed out as a pizza oven. Thankfully, he knew better and quickly got the kiln back to work.

The kiln is a great hands-on learning tool for students, and it offers faculty artists and their friends a way to avoid spending large amounts of money to fire their creations. Students also finish their work in the kiln, resulting in beautiful pieces that are displayed in spaces all over campus. The recent Honors Art Exhibit in the Warner Gallery featured several such stunning ceramic creations.

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