Join us in the heart Italy - in our mountaintop "castle town" of Monte Castello di Vibio for a special, three-week workshop that provides a unique and wholistic immersion into the world of wood-fired ceramics.
Here, deep among our mountains and ancient forests, Roman and Etruscan kilns still dot the clay-rich landscape of the Tiber Valley. Our participants live and work in an ancient mountain village made of stones, which is unchanged since the Middle Ages. We are surrounded by vineyards and olive groves -and steeped in traditions. This is truly a side of Italy that most travelers never experience! In this landscape where past meets present, we will follow in the path of the ancestral crafts of the region as we construct our own wood-burning kiln.
Building a wood-fired kiln is a complex process that requires both extensive knowledge and experience as well as careful planning. In Week-one of the workshop, participants will work under the direction of a professional kiln-builder and side-by-side with master Italian masons. In this way, they will be introduced to the principals involved in designing a wood kiln, while learning hands on techniques of construction from experienced artisans. The wood-fired kiln we build together will constructed with refractory insulation bricks and provide a generous, useable space. Our remarkably efficient kiln design is very economical in its use of wood and easy to fire by one person. Most importantly, participants will develop the knowledge and skills to build a wood kiln of their own.
In Week- two, the group will develop a body of work led by artist, Eva Champagne. Eva will offer step by step technical guidance, demonstrations, one on one mentoring, and open-forum discussion, as we create our series of vessels at varying scales. Participants will quickly hone hand-building skills, develop tactile acuity, and push their ability to make clay do what they want and for it to convey the thoughts and concerns we wish it to. We investigate numerous ways that the form and surface can be handled for expressive results, be aim dramatic, vivid, or subtle.
Throughout history ceramic vessels have told stories far more profound than the mere fact of storage or service. During this workshop, we plumb the depths of our own motivations to create vessels which carry our contemporary, personal narratives. Taking inspiration from the landscape, history and culture of Umbria - as well as the unique ideas and influences we each contain within us – participants will create a series of works that embody a specific moment, investigation, and touch.
Exploring the vivid possibilities for expression when one adopts a “freestyle” approach to making, participants will create personal narratives and content through the interplay between form, surface embellishment, and wood firing atmosphere on a series of works inspired by vessels of antiquity. Eva’s intuitive hand building method creates 3 dimensional “canvases” upon which to explore multiple techniques for mark making, printing, adding depth and texture— in effect, telling a visual story across the surface of each vessel, and then offering these highly expressive works to the new wood kiln, allowing it to have the final word in design. At the end of the first week, we dig up some local clay to work with, allowing us to compare the material qualities and firing results between clay bodies.
In Week-three, we turn our attention to finishing touches to our series, drying them, and preparing for the wood firing – breaking-in our new kiln! We discuss all aspects of this process, and everyone is hands-on during the inaugural firing itself, which takes about one day. All will experience the exhilarating freedom of giving our works over to the wood kiln, since results cannot be entirely predicted. Our process can be described as a collaboration between the maker’s planning and execution, and the kiln’s sweeping endowments and editing: a meeting of intention and fortune.
Eva Champagne is an American ceramic artist and educator, raised in the great cultural melting pot of Hong Kong. She has taught in both university and workshop settings in the US and abroad, focusing on such topics as soda firing, soda kiln building, ceramic surface techniques for all temperatures and firings, wheel throwing, and a wide variety of hand building methods. Her work and writing have been featured in Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated, among other publications. Eva’s ceramic work is exhibited in the US and internationally. She received her B.A. in Studio Art from Humboldt State University, completed Post-Baccalaureate study at the University of Florida, and earned her M.F.A. in Ceramics from the University of Montana-Missoula. Eva has traveled extensively for artist residencies including AIR Vallauris in France, Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center in Denmark, Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Maine, Red Lodge Clay Center and The Clay Studio of Missoula in Montana, and Gaya Ceramic Art Center in Bali, Indonesia. She returned to Gaya Ceramic Arts Center twice after her residency to lead workshops, before joining to serve as Managing Director for five and a half years. Recently, she returned to western Montana and continues her studio practice. In the spring of 2025 she will be leading several workshops in California and Idaho, and in the fall, Europe and the UK.
