INSTRUCTOR: KC Gonzales
ART 219: PRIMATIVE FIRING
(Section 4068) 1 unit
917-0477
Spring 2009
CLASSROOM: VAF102
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Forming and firing clay emphasizing traditional and experimental pit firing process.
PREREQUISITE: none, all levels of experience welcome
MATERIALS: Students will collect their own firing materials and clay supplies.
There is a lab fee of $6. Bagged clay is $6.
GRADING: Credit/No Credit Option
Percentage determined by points accumulated/points possible.
Grading Based On: Attendance 10%, Firings 20%, Projects 40%, Participation 30%
TEXT: None but these books are recommended.
Smoke Firing, Jane Perryman ISB: 978-0-812204089-4 (2008)
Smoke-Fired Pottery, Jane Perryman ISB: 0-9650786-7-1 (1995)
Alternative Kilns & Firing Techniques, Watkins & Wandless ISB:978-1-557990-952-9
NEWS AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE CHECK FOR UPDATES ON KC’S WEBSITE:
http://hhh.gavilan.edu/kgonzales/PitFire.htm
SCHEDULE & TOPICS COVERED
DATE
PLACE/TIME
TOPICS
2/27/09
2/28/09
VAF102 / 4 – 6pm
VAF102 / 9am -3:50pm
INTRODUCTION TO PAINTING WITH FIRE
Forms, Burnishing, Slip/Terra Sigillata, Clay
Bodies, Project list, Collecting Materials
3/13/09
3/14/09
VAF102 / 4 – 8:30pm
Del Monte Beach, Mty
9am – 3:50pm
Masking/Resists, Fluxes & Oxides, Wrapping
Beach Firing (small & quick)
3/27/09
3/28/09
VAF102 / 4 – 8:00pm
VAF102 / 9am -4:50pm
Combustibles
Saggars, Sawdust (slow-n-low-n-smoky)
Work-work-work. Get ready for the Big Pit!
4/18/09
Sylvia Rios’ House
830 am Setup
10ish Light
Noon Potluck
Pick up as soon as
it is cool enough
There is no class on Friday. You need to make
arrangements to pick up your bisque.
Work needs to be picked up by Friday PM.
Trough Firing (Big & hot)
INSTRUCTOR: KC Gonzales
917-0477
ART 219: PRIMATIVE FIRING
(Section 4068) 1 unit
Spring 2009
CLASSROOM: VAF102
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
1) Students will learn and use the pit fire vocabulary.
2) Students will learn and use appropriate safety practices.
3) Students will study fire appropriate forms.
4) Students will experience 1-3 different firing processes.
5) Students will formulate an opinion about the aesthetics of pit fired pottery based on class
lectures and personal experience.
6) Students will identify 1 or more pit fire artists that they like.
7) Students will explore some of the paper & electronic media that is available about pit firing.
8) Students will document their work digitally.
PROJECT LIST
1) One for All, All for One Tile Quilt
Make a tile for everyone in the class. Try different techniques on the various pieces. Before
giving the pieces away, assemble then photograph them.
2) Puzzle Pot
Make a pot. When it is bone dry, break it. Fire it. Reassemble it.
3) Bottle Form
4) Totem/effigy pot
Make a series of small pots to fire at the beach, in a sawdust firing and maybe a saggar firing.
FIRING MATERIALS
TOOLS: Hand torch, matches, shovel (long handled), fireplace tongs, gloves, cotton clothing
(hat, long sleeves, long sleeve shirt), closed shoes (not open sandals), camera, food, water
COMBUSTIBLES: Premium: cow pies, hardwood scraps (available at cabinet shops), fine
hardwood sawdust. Regular: kindling, firewood, pallet wood, hemp string. COLOR: Dry
seaweed, oxides,
RESIST MATERIALS: aluminum foil, clay or metal shard, wet clay, fire blanket, copper wire.
PIT FIRE VOCABULARY
Stages of clay -- Burnish (stone vs. metal, leather hard vs. bone dry, slipped vs. non-slipped)
Pit fire bisque cone range
Blackened = Carbon Trap = Carbonized
Combustibles
Flux
Terra Sigillata
Oxidation vs. reduction
Oxides