Regular firings and courses from our experienced international team. Volunteers & participants welcome. Anagama kilns are a traditional single-chambered, wood-fired kiln constructed on a slope from clay or firebricks, and characteristic of the Bizen ceramics town of Japan, home of the unglazed ware for the tea ceremony and other uses. The activities of OXFORD ANAGAMA include firing traditional Japanese kilns alongside other wood-fired ceramics (including raku kilns and pit firing) in the heart of Oxford University’s Wytham Woods. The underlying academic purpose of the project is part of a study conducted by anthropologist Dr Robin Wilson to study processes of meaning-making in contemporary craft practice. For other participants in the project, there are opportunities to join a large team of volunteers in a range of activities from wood-firing, clay-building, to photography, archaeology, or film making. And we are always open to good suggestions. Modern Anagama kilns represent the latest stage in an ongoing evolution, which has involved several reinventions, and which supplies the anthropological side of this project with rich study material illustrating the complex and changing relationships between the making process and the commodification and use of objects within a social and aesthetic context. As well as academic research, the potters will be undertaking a strong component of practical research to help further understand and develop their own craft process. At a time when the arts are dominated by Concept, and the crafts seem impelled by commercial convenience to rely on increasingly complex machinery and bland, processed materials rather than on hand skills, this project is a reminder that simple, sustainable processes and lightly refined, local materials can offer a valid and powerful alternative source of inspiration to the artist. As Bernard Leach discovered a hundred years ago, Japan is home to an unrivalled craft tradition, despite changing lifestyles that threaten traditional markets and craft practice. Rooted in practical research into both materials and process, OXFORD ANAGAMA offers an international forum which will encourage the search for a new way forward. The purpose behind locating this project in the University Woodland is to place it within a robust and unique research context, provided by The Wytham Studio and the Department of Anthropology. For further information, contact Dr Robin Wilson directly.
