Kiln Brick Voyages

This Summer, as I was preparing to finish my time in North Carolina, a great opportunity came up out of nowhere. For the past three years, I have been completely immersed in pottery here - working with many of my heroes in the field, and becoming a part of the tremendously supportive North Carolina clay community. This summer though, my wife and I decided to move back North, to be by the ocean and near our families. Just as we were packing our bags, an opportunity came up to disassemble a large woodfired kiln and take a portion of the bricks it was built from.

The kiln was a beautifully built anagama, constructed by Alex Matisse, founder of East Fork pottery. East Fork has moved all of its production away from woodfiring in favor of firing in gas kilns. They are doing amazing things - and it was time for them to move on from this kiln. Still, it was sad to see such a beautiful kiln come down. It’s bricks will live on, and will build my kiln, as well as several other potters who worked together to take the kiln down.

See the photos below for a visual journal of the journey these bricks took, from the mountains of Western North Carolina, to their new home on the island of Martha’s Vineyard.