Spotlight on saggar-firing at Ross Creek Gallery

THE name of Angie Robinson’s upcoming exhibition hints at the combustible energy that goes into creating her unique ceramic pieces.

Electric Embers will be Robinson’s first ever exhibition of saggar-fired ceramic works and will open at the Ross Creek Gallery in Smythes Creek on Saturday afternoon, 1 November.

The Walmer-based ceramicist practices saggar-firing in an electric kiln, working with a wide range of combustible materials to create unique colours and marks on her pottery.

“You can use all sorts of combustibles with saggar-firing,” she said.

“Some of it is cobalt sulfate which gives beautiful blues, but then you’ve got things like gum leaves and casuarina leaves which make beautiful marks, banana skins make beautiful pinks.

“I’ve also used peanuts, wood shavings, seaweed, onion skins, fruit and nut mix, tea leaves, egg shells, passion fruit, pistachio shells, fertiliser, crushed rust, copper wire, Epsom salts…

“With each pot I have little card written up with what was used in the firing. You never know what you’re getting and you cannot repeat the same thing.

“I use an electric kiln. It is unusual to do this in an electric kiln. Normally in an electric kiln you don’t put combustibles, but I’ve got an old kiln so I don’t care, and it works. It’s amazing.

“I’d like people to come and see the unusual results you can get. These are not glazes. And when the pieces come out I wash them and wax them and you get a beautiful finish, a bit like marble.

“It’s a completely different process to more conventional ceramics.”

The many pieces that are being prepared for display in the Electric Embers show include both functional and purely ornamental works.

All of them are hand-built, a skill which Robinson also teaches, having moved on from a prior background in business and IT.

Electric Embers opens at Ross Creek Gallery on Saturday 1 November from 1pm to 4pm, and will then be on show on Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 4pm until Sunday 16 November.