KilnLore@AOL.COM on sun 24 apr 05
Hi Bonnie:
Sorry for not replying to your posting about the Shelia Machen kiln goddess,
but I have not received the Clayart posting on my AOL E-mail for several days.
I think that I need to get used to using a different browser because the AOL
needs upgrading and I hate to change anything on the computer because it has
been working so well for many years now. (I do have other choices for accessing
the Internet and they do work better than my old AOL, so it is time that I
upgraded for sure.)
I have never come across the name that you mentioned as being a name for a
kiln guardian. However, I like the spirit in which you and your husband went
about creating a kiln deity that could help to bring good luck and a sense of fun
to your exhibition. There is so much ritual involved in the preparation and
making of pottery (down to hoping and praying that everything comes out of the
kiln as it should), that it makes sense to finish off an exhibition with a
little pageantry.
Just a note about a Shelia with a different spelling: there are images of
female figures pulling open their vulvas located on the outsides of some ancient
churches in Celtic Britain. The figures are known as "Sheela-na-Gig," and
according to Adele Getty (1990) they are remnants of the old pagan ways which
celebrated the bodies of women. Getty presents other information on this topic in,
"Goddess: Mother of Living Nature." The book is published by Thames and
Hudson.
I think that Great Mother figures make excellent kiln god/desses because of
their association with the earth. I use the female figure in my work because of
its archetypal association with the Great Mother and Carl Jung's
psychological concept of the Uroboric, or Great Round.
So-called kiln god customs in the United States are nothing like real
religious practices in China and other Asian countries. In the United States
ceramists make kiln offerings in the form of kiln gods because making playful
good-luck charms or talismans sometimes relieves the stress of firing. Most people
would agree that they could use a little extra luck when firing a kiln,
especially if the kiln is a temperamental flame-throwing, smoke belching, mortar and
brick beast. Also, the notion of kiln spirits or guardians seems to have become
something of an unofficial symbol for American studio potters. Everyone knows
what someone means when they say that they are hoping for the blessing of the
kiln god(s).
Personally, I think that decorating kilns with whimsical guardians adds a
bit of romance and flare to the firing. I try and put a little of myself into my
guardians and that makes me feel closer to the firing and the whole process
of transformation that the pots themselves undergo. My kiln god/desses help me
to feel more connected to the whole ceramic process.
Martie (AKA: the Kiln Priestess)
www.kilnlore.com
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