by Joseph Markel

The University of Montevallo is home to a very large, very special outdoor kiln for firing pottery. it’s one of the only of it’s type in North America, with a tradition that dates back to fifth-century China.

Known as an Anagama Kiln, it can reach temperatures of over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Art student Andrew Glover says the flames can even glow to be white-hot.

It takes over 100 hours to fully fire the kiln, so students and faculty take shifts loading wood in a coordinated team effort.

They then close all the holes on the kiln and allow it to slowly cool so that the pottery inside doesn’t get harmed from thermal shock: damage to pottery from too quick a change in temperature.

After these steps, it still takes about a week for it to cool down.

The outdoor kiln was built by Dr. Scott Meyer with a green fund grant of only twenty thousand dollars. He built it especially large, in the hopes that other ceramicists around the country and abroad would be attracted to work with UM.

The firing this year will take place on the 15th of April, and continue into that week.