Wow. We did it. We have just emerged from the woods, having completed our 10 day Effigy Little River Anagama firing. This has been a challenging, wonderful and at times harrowing journey, but we thing [hope] that this recent firing has been a success...All the more because the work we just fired will be the entirety of our upcoming show at Gallery 78 in Fredericton entitled "Effigy: One Hundred Figures and the Buddha". Effigy opens on Friday, August 13th, at 5pm, Gallery 78 796 Queen Street, Fredericton.

The show will consist of figures in various states of spiritual and earthy agony and ecstasy...

We will be posting new work to this website on or around the 10th of August, as well as on etsy and various other virtual places, so please stay tuned.

In addition to a new body of work to be born, we are expecting our new baby any day now...Lots happening!

For the story of our firing and much more, please visit www.burntnormal.blogspot.com.

We hope you are having a wonderful summer!

Sincerely,

Lee, Yo, Horus and bump...

Horus roams our rural kingdom naked and happy. Thanks to the sun and the warmth, our studio has expanded beyond the boundaries of the tiny front porch and Lee and I have pots drying on shelves outside, and the picnic table outside our back door has been taken over by sculptures and vases. We fired our bourrigama in February, and it was a failure. We fired again in March, and it was a disaster. From inappropriate wood, to chimney issues, to problems achieving temperature for various reasons. We have given ourselves a full course in how not to woodfire. Now, we are only two days away from our third attempt of the year, and pretty much everything is on the line. But we have several cords of tamarack slabs that we have scrounged and split, and lots of lovely new work. We also feel a renewed spirit and a sharp sense of momentum and peace despite our recent foibles. And of course, every time we fire, no matter the outcome, we continue to learn and grow, eager to apply our observations for the next round. Good things continue to happen: the work we are making now will contribute to the body of work that Lee and I are putting together for our first two-person show together, to open the 8th of July at Gallery 78 in Fredericton. And I look forward to seeing my article "Fire Within" which will be published in Studio Potter magazine, out on the shelves in July.

On top of firing the kiln beginning Saturday, I have a bunch of looming deadlines: writing projects, applications and similar intellectual pursuits. I am enjoying this balance between the physical world of making and firing, and the writing life. I am at home in the world.

After we unload our upcoming firing--probably Sunday the 2nd of May--we will immediately head "out back of Simonds" to continue cutting and piling our tamarack and pine in order to fire our Little River Anagama on or before June 5th.

Despite our eternally crazy schedule, I would like to start a monthly column that I will publish on our blog (www.burntnormal.blogspot.com), discussing a different contemporary woodfiring artist each month--or a review of a particular piece that has affected me or Lee.

Stay tuned.

Yolande

One of a Kind Update, and a presentation on Intuitive Woodfiring

If you are in the Toronto area, come and visit us at the One of a Kind Show, being held at the Direct Energy Centre, until Sunday December 6th. We are booth E22.

On Monday December 7th, at 7:30pm at the Carnegie Gallery in Dundas Ontario, we will be giving a presentation on Intuitive Woodfiring "our way". We will be discussing our method of firing our 27 foot long "Little River Anagama" without glaze, cones or pyrometers, as well as the evolution of our process, Lee's early experiences building the first incarnation of the hikarigama, the renovation of the anagama last spring, the influence of Shiho Kanzaki on our work, and the construction of our new "Bourrigama" which we completed in November 2009. We will be showing some photos, and a selection of our unglazed, natural-ash ceramics in the flesh! We will also be sharing some excerpts from Claude Gagnon's excellent documentary on Shiho Kanzaki (featuring Lee!).

Come and join us if you have the chance. We'd love to see you there. Refreshments will be served!

Carnegie Gallery
10 King Street
Dundas, Ontario

for more information, please call 1 506 392-7917.

Yo & Lee

Greetings,

All the leaves are gone, and cold has crept in. Our home fires are burning and so are our kiln fires, and we are busy cooking up some wonderful new natural-ash glazed ceramics in time for the Holiday Season.

Many of you may already know that we have now moved to our new strawbale solar-powered cottage in South Knowlesville, New Brunswick, and the construction of our new kiln, a Bourrigama, is complete. We fired it a few days ago…and we're gearing up to fire once again, tomorrow, and then a third time a few days later so we have enough work for the One of a Kind Show in Toronto, which opens on November 26th.

The results of the first firing were very heartening, (and in the case of many pieces, sublime!) and we are confident that after a bit of tweaking and adjustments, our new kiln will fire like a dream.

For more info, check out our blog, at www.burntnormal.blogspot.com

Hello Everyone,

Today is Horus' first birthday, and we are having a kiln-building party at our new home and kiln-site in Knowlesville, NB. We are hoping to fire our new kiln very soon, a bourry-box with a Clark twist.

I am also working on this site, but as you can see, it's not quite there yet. Within the next week, we will have more work posted and priced, in time for the gift-giving season.

Thank you for all the messages and questions--your interest is much-appreciated.

Feel free to query me for information on particular pieces, or additional photos.

Sincerely,

Yolande, Lee & Horus

This is an exciting new venture. Hello World. Welcome to our webpage. Here, you will be able to follow our daily excitement, learn about our life and our artwork, and buy our works through secure paypal transactions. Beautiful.