The spring firing turned out to be one of the most enjoyable firings to date. I was very fortunate to have David Smith, one of America's foremost wood fire artists, join me for the firing.
David is also an Albion College graduate. Smitty, as he was known then, was a year ahead of me. In Japan the titile senpai is given to an older student or colleague who offers support and encouragement to those under him. Smitty was my senpai. After graduating he headed east to further his study of wood firing. At the time there were only 5 anagamas in N. America. He spent 2 years working in New Jersey under Peter Callas when Callas was first working with

Peter Voulkos. He was a participant in one of the most important periods of history in American ceramics. He left there to get his masters at Montana University, where he built the first anagama in the state. For the last 15 years he has taught at Edgewood College in Madison. He has built numerous anagamas around America and recently has been firing Don Reitz' work in Florida and Arizona.
David arrived a week before we started to load, giving him time to produce a small body of work for the firing. Loading proceeded without a hitch, though we had to bear some rather unseasonably cold and wet weather. David was a rock of steady positive energy. When he wasn't helping load, he would be hauling wood down to the kiln. He did find the pace unusually slow as I take almost 6 days over 2 weekends to fill the kiln.
We started firing at 6 pm on Wed. the 29th. David taught me how to construct a 'Pignose' firebox off the bottom stoke hole that could be used

for preheating and drying the kiln. It is a box of brick and shelves that gets stuffed with wood and needs stoking only every 3 - 4 hours, which allowed us to get some sleep the first night. This was nice as the unseasonably cold weather got colder with a few inches of snow the first 2 nights. The kiln steadily climbed and by Saturday evening we were able to pull out our first Hiki-dashi pieces. David introduced a black seto/raku that had to be pulled out at cone 6. These turned out to be delightful pieces and something I look forward to doing more of in the future. As the temperature rose and the cones fell we start pulling out more Hiki-dashi with natural ash, something David had not done before. We got some wonderful pots; I got 4 or 5 fantastic vases, and Smitty came away with some beautiful teabowls, sake cups, and one very nice cylinder vase.

We finished the first chamber early Tuesday morning and fired off the 2nd in about 5 hours. The temp went up steadily with cones pretty even from top to bottom. We held it in reduction at the top for about 40 minutes. I had struggled with this chamber in the past, more from neglect and exhaustion than anything wrong with the kiln, and I was determined to give it the proper energy necessary to fire it well, and we did.
We unloaded the following Sunday, and were pretty happy with the results. The firebox area produced fantastic results with almost no loss. We had good pots throughout the ki

ln, with the 2nd chamber yielding a large amount of very nice work.
David had a 3 day exhibition at Doi's gallery Rerun the following weekend that was very well received.
We left on Monday the 17th for Tokyo and my annual show at Shunn opened on the 19th. Smitty flew home the day after the opening.
It can be risky to reconnect with someone after 20+ years, especially in the context

of firing and exhibiting. But Smitty so seamlessly integrated into the scene here, was such a positive source of energy and inspiration, and such a pleasantly wonderful person to hang out with; it turned out to be maybe the best experience at my kiln to date.

I have 2 more shows, here in the Kansai area, coming up. First, at the Kobe Club, the weekend of June 3rd and 4th. I will also be showing at Gallery Sho in Osaka from July 7th through the 16th. In August I will be giving a slideshow and workshop at the Flint Institute of Arts in Michigan. Please contact me for any further information on any of these dates.