Linda Arbuckle on tue 2 jun 98
Just dropping thru ClayArt on my way to pack for Penland. Been busy and
missed everyone's discussions. Sorry to hear about the GA State
problems.
As for why gas... the university is an educational institution. Students
should be exposed to as many of the basic options as possible to better
educate them to make appropriate decisions for themselves about which
tools to use. Learning to fire a gas reduction kiln is considered a very
basic ingredient for normal ceramics programs. It's true that some
programs do not offer this and do give their students a good education
in other ways. But at the university level, it would be a handicap to
majors to leave with a BFA and have no gas firing experience. Many
residency and art center opportunities include firing of gas kilns as
part of the duties. If the university wants to provide professional
education for the ceramic arts, they need a gas kiln.
As far as the sales issue, geeze. It could be argued either way by many
successful people in varying markets. It's a non-issue in this case.
Linda
--
Linda Arbuckle
Graduate Coordinator, Assoc. Prof.
Univ of FL
School of Art and Art History
P.O. Box 115801, Gainesville, FL 32611-5801
(352) 392-0201 x 219
e-mail: arbuck@ufl.edu
Rick Sherman on wed 3 jun 98
Linda and Kim have provided the ammunition in argument of a gas kiln. I
will add that any graduate applying for a teaching postition who does
not know the operation and safety factors of a gas kiln is certain to
be rejected. There is a lot of competition and they will want to hire
someone who has experience with gas firing. This is a basic. To be
certain of this, I checked with two community colleges, two
universities and one community center in my area where I know the
staff.
Rick Sherman
San Jose, CA USofA
sherman@ricochet.net
--------------------------from Linda Arbuckle--------------------------
As for why gas... the university is an educational institution.
Students should be exposed to as many of the basic options as possible
to better educate them to make appropriate decisions for themselves
about which tools to use. Learning to fire a gas reduction kiln is
considered a very basic ingredient for normal ceramics programs. It's
true that some programs do not offer this and do give their students a
good education in other ways. But at the university level, it would be
a handicap to majors to leave with a BFA and have no gas firing
experience. Many residency and art center opportunities include firing
of gas kilns as part of the duties. If the university wants to provide
professional education for the ceramic arts, they need a gas kiln.
----------------------------from Kim-----------------------------------
Debby Grant on wed 3 jun 98
I just have to jump in on this thread. Linda Arbuckle and others have
given some excellent replies and I would just like to add one more
reason to go with a gas kiln and that is that an electric kiln would
limit the students as to the size of their projects. I would also like to
say that it is extremely irrresponsible to say that reduction ware
outsells oxidation to say nothing of the fact that this kind of misinformation
can be very discouraging to new young potters who have no other
alternative than to fire in an electric kiln. There have been many
successful and even famous potters who fired exclusively with electric,
among them Lucy Rie and Ed and Mary Scheirer. Not every potter
is lucky enough to live in the wide open spaces and one can develop
one's own palette of glazes to suit the method of firing. I do both
and have certainly not seen any difference in sales between oxidation
and reduction. In fact the brighter clearer colors obtained in oxidation
seem to be very popular today. I even had a friend who preferred
to fire oxidation in a gas kiln because he developed some very beautiful
oxidation glazes. Incidentally, I should mention that I fire to ^10 in
the electric kiln and that does make a difference.
Sorry if this is too rambling.
Debby Grant in NH
Dannon Rhudy on wed 3 jun 98
----------------------------Original
As for why gas... the university is an educational institution.
Students
should be exposed to as many of the basic options as
possible......
I must weigh in with Linda (and others) here. It is the
University's business to provide the best and most comprehensive
experience to the students as is possible. To send someone off
with a BFA or MFA in ceramics without having offered the options
of learning about reduction firing is a grave disservice to the
student(s). They have to compete in the big wide world; they
deserve, and pay for, information and experience to help them
to do that. Would the powers that be consider reducing their
painting/drawing students to only working with acrylics, because
it was inconvenient to vent the fumes from oil paints? Their
science majors to lectures only, without the use of labs and
the equipment needed for their research? Well, they might, but
I doubt it. And, if they did, they would soon find themselves
short of students. That is the position the ceramics department
is likely to find itself in, denied the ability to perform the
basic services that students should reasonably be able to expect.
Dannon Rhudy
potter@koyote.com
Russel Fouts on thu 4 jun 98
Debby,
>> I would just like to add one more reason to go with a gas kiln and that
is that an electric kiln would limit the students as to the size of their
projects. <<
WHAT! If I had the time and patience, I could build a duplicate of the great
wall of China in my electric! Firing in pieces and re-assembling after
firing, you can build anything of any size in any size (or type) of kiln.
Russel
Russel Fouts
Mes Potes & Mes Pots
Brussels, Belgium
32 2 223 02 75
Http://users.skynet.be/russel.fouts
Http://www.japan-net.or.jp/~iwcat
Linhares on thu 4 jun 98
I have to agree with Linda,"If the university wants to provide
professional education for the ceramic arts, they need a gas kiln."
Another economic factor (favorite of deans everywhere) is kiln
mantenance. It costs more money to build your average gas kiln than
to go out and buy a hobby electric, but if the gas kiln is constructed
well it could last 20 years without further investment. Electric
kilns under heavy use in an educational facility, taken to higher
temps allways need an element or a switch or a new lid.
Paul in Morgantown where it's time to make the pots
Kathi LeSueur on fri 5 jun 98
The arguments for electric firing:
1. It is simple to do. Just load, turn on the switches, increase until cones
drop.
2. Easy to duplicate results. Inconsistancies of heat throughout kiln are
likely to be less than with gas.
3. Cost. With the cost of brick now at record highs building a gas kiln of
comparable size could be prohibitive to many starting out. A good kiln with a
controller can be had for $1000 if you look carefully.
4. Location. Electric kilns can be put almost anywhere allowing people to work
out of their homes easily. People won't even notice it is happening. Gas, on
the other hand, requires much more thought as to location. It may be
prohibited in many residential areas. Special safety equipment is a must.
Insurance to cover the risk can be very high and difficult to obtain.
That said, I wouldn't fire with anything but gas. I love reduction firing with
all of it's problems and variables and consider it worth the hassles.
Kathi LeSueur
"Originality is failure to remember"
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