Sue Schwartz talks about the Pit Fire process with Ceramics. Interview by Joyce Wang, SFWA high school intern.
What is the pit fire process?
After the pot is formed, it is hand burnished and fired near the sand of the Bay Area beaches. The pottery will have colors from the firing process and added organic materials, such as seaweed and copper, to bring out the colors of red, gold, deep brown and black. Next, the pots are fired in a shallow pit, with a layer of sawdust, cow dung, wood and paper. The cow dung is collected from farmers,
and Sue and her friends would go out to the farmers’ fields to gather it. After all the pots are in the shallow pit and covered by the layers, we light the pit on fire and it takes about 6-7 hours to complete.
What made you interested in this process?
For 30 years I have been doing the pit fire process that is inspired by ancient ceramics. When I moved to California in the 1980s, I saw a workshop talking about the pit fire process and decided to try it out. Soon I came to like the pit fire process, and never knew how fun it was to make pots and add many things to the process, and see what happens after firing. Also, I get to talk to people about pottery and how the pottery would turn out.
What kind of artist community are you in?
I’m in a community of artists who also really like the pit fire process. We help each other with getting materials and talk about what we learn, and experiment with the pit fire process. Testing what happens to the pot when we add anything to it, such as using different materials or shape, is a fun experiment.
