The exhibition will be held in the Chartwell Gallery at ArtsPost, Hamilton, opening at 5.30 pm on 22 January and running until 18 February 2026.

This will be the second curated exhibition in New Zealand that focuses on the process and work from potters who use wood kilns as both the means of expression and a functional tool to fire their work.
The exhibition will show the diversity of work produced and also the variety of designs of wood fired kilns that potters throughout New Zealand have created. 
This resourcefulness of potters has forged a distinct culture in the ceramic community that relishes the dance with fire and the unpredictable nature of this elemental practice.

We last organised this exhibition in January and February 2023

We want to tell a new story with Clay + Ash this time, expanding the survey from just kiln owners taking part, to include potters who regularly fire in wood kilns as a main means of production, but don’t own the kiln. We feel this more accurately reflects the range of wood fired work being produced in Aotearoa

Artists taking part

It was also a great opportunity for us, as a community, to come together and catch up. There’s something insanely communal in woodfiring, the process of loading and stoking a hot box of bricks seems to also attract folk who like to share stories, exchange slip recipes and become stoking buddies.

The exhibition is on for a month and there is an extensive catalogue available full of stories from our group of artists.

Kiln Masters and their kilns

Maureen Allison

Maureen will be in charge of her large Anagama kiln. This firing will already be underway when you arrive on Thursday and Maureen will be needing willing stokers to continue firing through until late Friday night.

Anagama kiln

Firing to around 1200 to 1280. If you want work in this firing then see the ‘Dates to Remember’ section and send off your pieces. The kiln will be going when you arrive and will fire through to about Friday evening.

Paul Maseyk

Paul is in charge of the kiln built by Isaac Patmore during last Woodstoke. Paul was inspired by Isaac’s kiln and went home to build his own version in Taranaki, now a skilled master in firing this style of kiln, Paul will need a crew to load and fire this kiln.

Fast Fire Kiln (Isaac’s Kiln)

Firing to 1300. A turbo charged rocket kiln, like a V8 in a mini, this kiln will get hot. Wadding comes to the fore as tumble stacked raw work needs a steady hand when loading. With a dash of soda in the mix there will be some rich surfaces from this firing.

Duncan Shearer

Duncan is in charge of the tunnel kiln and will fire in the provincial French style of terracotta ware. Raw glazed terracotta, rich with slipping, will be loaded and nursed to top temperature of 1150 over 16 hours, with varying atmospheric conditions.

Tunnel Kiln

Firing to 1140. In a complete change of direction this kiln is focussed on delivering an earthenware approach. Local red clays, burnt dark by the firing, covered in a white slip and rich lead glazes, possibly a first for NZ, but this firing method has been used in France and Spain for centuries. This kiln will be the last to get going and needs a carefully controlled firing.

Louis Kittleson

Louis is in charge of the kiln built in 2012 by Gyan. This innovative bottle kiln design will need to be loaded and fired over 3 days and finished with a charcoal loading to slow cool the kiln under reduction. Sign up on Thursday to be one of the crew.

Bottle Kiln (Gyan’s Kiln)

Firing to around 1250, this kiln rewards careful firebox stoking as the shelves surround the firebox. This kiln has a range of atmospheric conditions and temperature zones – some great spots for those who want the ash all over their work, and areas where the quiet soft blushes occur.

Click on the button to download the slip and glaze recipes we used

Additional Kiln Action

Makers / Collaborators

We’ve chosen a diverse range of makers to inspire and challenge you. Each maker is encouraged to be spontaneous and to build work collaboratively with the other guest makers and participants. The clay will be various local clays and additions like river sands or other found materials is to be encouraged. Some of the work will be for the various firings if suitable.

Gallery

• The living clay and the firing process?
• The purpose and privilege of our work?
• How to share our story with the customer and market?
• The tribe we are a continuum of?
• Our youth, the future of clay?

Woodstoke is a chance for answers, a chance to reply, a chance to converge and tell our stories. This is to be a gathering, focussed on making and wood firing the living clay. For the regeneration of our tribe by providing a meeting place. For experiential learning for participants and guests. We believe it is an essential time for us to reconnect.

• Making pots using local clays, vessels to honour the garden and cook.
• Making sculptures using local clays, telling our stories, who we are.
• Building and firing temporary installation kilns.

Adjunct activities:

Earth building, earth plaster finishes, rocket stove building, adobe pizza oven building, olla making, musical instruments and clay mural making

International guests will lead the charge into the frantic pace of kiln construction, with participants expected to lend a hand and feel the clay under their fingernails. A variety of kilns, from small salt kilns through to large temporary kiln installations will be erected on site, pots made to fill them and then the fires are lit. A pyromania of heat and flame will ensure the weekend is an impression burnt into the memory of all.

There will be the sort of feasting and company that legends are made of and with camping on-site the partying and all night stoking vigils can last until dawn.

We are fortunate to be able to base the conference at a farm only a few kilometres from Whangamata, with plenty of room and facilities for onsite camping. Utalising the ready supply of wood, clay and imagination the weekend will unfold under the watchful coordination of Janet Smith, Maureen Allison and Duncan Shearer.

Participation by everyone is the magic ingredient that will set this conference apart – no timetable clashes, no dashing from one lecture hall to the next, instead a key set of kiln projects under the control of our guest demonstrators will arrest your interest and allow you to work along side other keen participants.