The Kiln

The idea of packing the makings for a portable kiln to my destination at WayiWayi studios was one that I struggled with because it involved purchasing and transporting a complex array of equipment and assuming it actually could be set up and become a useful addition to the program once my residency was over. My own limitations of knowledge and experience in kiln building certainly were considerations to think about as well so when I finally got around to asking specific questions about what to take at ceramic supply stores, I was predisposed to be talked out of the venture. That didn’t happen. I was encouraged at every level to go for it and so it came to pass that I became a missionary for the art of Raku and a deciple of kiln-building.

Laying out the kiln site

Raku kilns can be constructed in a variety of ways but I was interested in a low budget affair that did not require brick construction, only a relatively thin shell of insulation (high temperature fiber blanket), a metal cage and a burner device attached to a pressurized bottle gas source. Since Zambia has no art supply stores, let alone ceramic suppliers, I needed to carry the insulation and burner with me counting on being able to find the metal cage and bottled gas locally. By the time I had purchased and packed a variety of other odd accessories related to the kiln and glaze making materials, I was sure that one of the many TSA checkpoints I would need to navigate through would suspect that I was carrying bomb-making equipment, but I arrived with all intact and with much local support began the assembly of the kiln.

 Martin the potter and I with the finished kiln

Lawrence had contacted his friend Martin, a potter who lives in nearby Botswana who was excited about the project and wanted to help. We wired him money and he drove some distance to South Africa to a supply store to purchase kiln shelves, some bricks for the base and some other items. His background and experience was essential to our success. We put our heads together and and through our colaborative efforts were able to figure out how to get the results we were after.

Oscar and Almakyo 

With help from a few other local artists, we assembled the kiln in a few days and Martin, Lawrence and I fired it for the first time. We had some success, we had some failures, but we learned a lot and everyone involved was ecstatic.


Sitting around the kiln while it was firing (as potters are inclined to do) the discussion turned to the history of pottery in Zambia and I learned that the history was far richer than I had imagined. Going back to one of the first archeological finds of African civilizations, at a place called Broken Hill, pottery continues to be associated with human activity in Zambia up to the present time.

 During the colonial occupation, the tradition of pottery making was encouraged and supported in schools across what was then, Northern Rhodesia,  but after independence, lack of funding has rendered most of the ceramic programs inactive. In some rural areas, the traditional pottery makers still produce but the pots are fired in primitive style, with large wood fires and the relatively low firing temperatures make the pots beautiful but fragile and short-lived. Additionally, traditional potters are having to travel longer distances to collect the necessary firewood and are depleting the natural resource and adding stress to thier environments.

Women bring traditional pit-fired pottery to the market

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                               
One of the artists helping with the kiln building, Almakyo Banta, is a student of the Zambian history and happened to have pictures of native Zambian women building large pots that predate National Geographic Magazine. Our talk turned to the concept of building kilns that might be taken to the villages where these women are working and introducing them to the higher temperature firings possible with these portable kilns. The comment was made that if it took four of us two days to construct this kiln, it would take two of us one day to repeat the procedure and a small business (of which Livingstone is rife) could be turning them out in numbers with very little capital investment.
Excitement for the idea has grown as the days go by and as I will be leaving soon, it will be with a thankful heart that I was encouraged to pursue this idea and that the industrious friends I have made will be taking this project forward.

Finished kiln with first load of ceramic pieces