Kiln Gods
by antware
I talked about the Kiln God in the entry on Media and Meaning. In my ceramic training, the Kiln God was mostly mentioned as an abstract concept — a metaphor for the process of letting go and accepting the outcome that is required in ceramics. You offer up your creation to the kiln god, and hope that he’s feeling generous. Many times, I’d spend hours and hours perfecting a clay vessel or sculpture, only to have it mysteriously explode, melt, crack, or wither in the fiery kiln.
I’ve been thinking about this a bit more in the past few days. After all, clay is not the only medium which requires a fiery and unpredictable transformation at some point in its development.
I decided to do a little exploring about the concept of the kiln god. It turns out that there is a tradition of taking this abstract concept and transforming it into something physical, literal, and then ascribing a bit of magic to it. (Right up my alley!) People build actual idols to the kiln god and place them at the opening of the kiln in hopes of appeasing the temperamental god’s appetites.
by jpettit
If you’ve ever felt a higher power taking over your creative process, or held your breath and hoped for the best as you molded, painted, clipped, glued, or otherwise irreversibly altered your creation, you understand why ceramic artists have adopted the practice of creating a kiln god to watch over their creations during such a phase of unpredictability.
More reading on the kiln god:
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There’s more to be had, with some creative googling.
Please share: how do you let go and trust when it comes to your creative process?
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a very interesting topic. i had no idea about kiln gods.
about creative process: first i try to tell myself it is not a matter of life and death. it is important, but not enough to get depressed about it. then i try to think about it as constant learning. what can i learn from my mistakes? tomorrow i will do better.
what really matters is my enjoyment of the process. and admitting to myself that i’m not entirely in charge of it, that it’s a gift, a rarity and it should be honored the way it is.
Comment by eva — 19 February 2009 @ 11:47 am
@eva: Thanks so much for sharing your creative process. I think so many of us have a hard time letting go and accepting imperfections, but taking a “learning stance” is definitely one way to get over that. I really liked reading this. Thank you.
Comment by Mal — 19 February 2009 @ 2:07 pm