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Alison Brannen | Episode 1060
Award winning Toronto artist, Alison Brannen makes one of a kind hand made ceramics. A creative risk taker, educator and avid sailor, Alison can’t get enough of the wind and the fire! Inspired by her summer voyage on the Atlantic Ocean Alison creates dynamic patterns that ebb and flow along the surface of her beautiful organic vessels. Alison’s work has been exhibited in Canada and the USA, with Fusion Clay and Glass, the Art Gallery of Burlington, Clay and Glass Gallery Waterloo, Oeno Gallery and Craft Ontario among others. Alison teaches pottery and Kintsugi workshops in her downtown Toronto studio where she lives with her husband Craig and her two beach loving dogs Ruby and Tilly.
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Is it really critical to have the big pot to put the smaller pieces in? Why can’t you just put it straight into the kiln?
I could put it straight in the kiln and the big pieces I do but the saggar that I make contains the smaller pots. I like to fire, if I can, fifteen small pots at once.
So the big pot is to contain the small pots and not necessarily to get the impact of the finished product? Is that accurate?
No, I think it helps the impact for the smaller product, I find that large pieces that aren’t in the double saggar, they are not quite as strong and not quite as consistent in color.
When you do fire straight in the kiln with your larger pieces do you have to clean out your kiln specially after the fact?
Oh yes, of course.
How do you go about cleaning the kiln?
Vacuum, sweep it, check the coils. Sweep up the ash.
It’s usually done outside so is it really important to have a well ventilated area?
Absolutely. Very important. I don’t think you should do it without it.
What is the risk?
Your health risk. My risk is zero because I am never in the kiln room when it’s firing.
How much material do you actually put in the kiln?
Well, a lot of the carbonate is actually in the slip or on the slip. And salt, I use maybe a tablespoon. Two tablespoons of salt, table salt, and it’s sprinkled. I have seen firings where they actually pour cups of salt on top of the carbonates, and I don’t use anywhere near that much.
You mentioned you like to wrap your pieces in aluminum foil. Does the metal impact the product itself?
I use aluminum foil just to hold the clay and the clay slip next to the pot. So I really just use it as a wrapping material.
Is there anything that I missed or wish I would have asked you about?
Yes, I wished that you would have asked me about fusion clay and glass. So we have an association in Ontario and I am the vice president, I have been the vise president for a few years, Catarina Gold is the president and we put on conferences and exhibitions and workshops. We have an Instagram and we hold interviews called Faces of Fusion. I really want to give fusion a plug because guilds and fusion help to promote ceramics in Canada and in Ontario.
Book
Alternative Firing for Ceramics
Contact
Instagram: @alison_brannenceramics