The Australian Woodfire Survey 2005 exhibition at the Canberra Potters Society Gallery, followed by the conference and workshop event, Gundaroo Woodfire 2005 shortly after, is an important checkpoint in the contemporary development of woodfired ceramics in Australia.

In fact, this is the third such occasion, each of them 10 years apart. The first woodfire conference, organised by Owen Rye, was held in Gippsland in 1986, supported by the Latrobe Regional Gallery which hosted the first large exhibition of ceramics fired in this way. The second was at Strathnairn, ACT, in 1996. These events brought together people who had already spent some decades firing with wood with a growing number of those more recently addicted. In the last twenty years, many smaller group exhibitions have been presented in Australia, a number of kiln-firing events carried out and some specialist publications produced, while many people have participated in related international occasions.

What is it about this process that binds woodfirers together to the extent that they organise major national events around this particular way of working? In his catalogue essay, that betrays his own lifetime of experience with this demanding and challenging process, Owen Rye talks about the distinctive characteristics of woodfiring: its ideas, attitudes, materials and unique language - and its complex and rich results. Woodfirers often work together over many days during the firing process. There are many elements in what they do that cannot be controlled: they work intuitively, responding to characteristics of both clay and fuel, selecting strategic placement in the kiln and acknowledging changing environmental conditions, while knowing the result may always be different from what was anticipated. Excitement, drama, fear, risk, awe and wonder are all part of the attraction both for makers and for those watching the process and enjoying the outcome.

This exhibition shows the work of forty people who are exploring the challenges of the many variations of this process in their own way. I congratulate the organisers Ian Hodgson and John Heaney, and curator Owen Rye, on bringing this important survey together for the Canberra Potters Society.

Grace Cochrane March 2005
Senior Curator, Australian Decorative Arts and Design, Powerhouse Museum