Ana, Our Wood Kiln Scheduled Work Days
Spring 2026 Ana Our Wood Kiln workdays will be scheduled soon! We’re getting closer to completing the wood kiln, and I’m calling on potters, builders, and curious folks alike to come lend a hand!
Whether you’ve stacked 1,000 bricks or zero, this is your chance to get your hands on a living piece of ceramic tradition. We’ll be working hard, learning together, and building something that will fire generations of pots.
Expect sweat, mistakes, and moments of magic. You don’t have to be perfect—you just have to show up.
Message me if you plan to join—or just show up and jump in!
Location: 917 Creek Road, Laceyville, PA 18623
More build dates so you can better plan when best to be most generous! Cheer teams, Bystanders, system owners, project planners, and managers who manage are all welcome also!
Bring gloves, boots, a hat, and your curiosity.
Whether you’re here for a day or the whole series, you’ll be part of something real and lasting.
If you’re in, send me a message or just show up ready to work!
Current Anna Our Wood Kiln Updates.
- The Fire Burns Upside Down: The Wood-Fire Bourry Box
A note before we begin: I am not a ceramics historian. I am a first-time kiln builder, reconstructing a wood kiln donated by two master potters on Mother’s Day 2023. What follows is what I have learned by going back to the original source, the actual book by the actual man whose name is on the firebox design in front of Ana’s arch. What I found surprised me. The Man Behind the Name Most potters who fire a Bourry box… Read more: The Fire Burns Upside Down: The Wood-Fire Bourry Box - Brick by Brick
One Side of the Arch, One Day with My Dad Today my dad and I worked on one side of Ana Our Wood kiln and did a dry stack to be sure all the bricks were there. On my next day off I need to lay in the other side. There might be changes to even what we have now. One of my biggest fears is the arch caving once we lower the form. Once I have the second side… Read more: Brick by Brick - The Arch Breakthrough
How Two Hours Solved a Four-Month Problem. I’ve been avoiding the arch bricks for three months. Today I worked out the puzzle in two hours, and I could cry from relief. I was able to find the stacking pattern fo the kiln bricks for the arch, I had all mixed up. Before, with all the bricks piled together, the task looked like it would take a few days. I have been putting off the task until I have the time.… Read more: The Arch Breakthrough
Current and Past Anna Our Wood Kiln Newsletters
If you would like to stay up to date about Ana Our Wood Kiln by email, feel free to subscribe to the newsletter below!
About:
Anna, the Wood kiln was donated to Alford Wayman of Creek Road Pottery, LLC, by the previous owners, ceramic artists Nan Burdi and Matt Povse. The Kiln was deconstructed and moved to Creek Road Pottery LLC and is now being reconstructed. I am most grateful to Nan and Matt for their generosity.
Ana is named after the mother of the past owner of the kiln, Matt Povse, who was also my professor of ceramics at Marywood University in Pennsylvania. I fired the kiln, Ana, over 20 years ago. The name reaches into the past and pays tribute to the past owners and stories, but the future stories and work are built each time a new brick is laid in and the kiln is fired. It can never be my kiln, Ana. It always must be our kiln, Ana, as there is no way I can fire her by myself.
It is hoped that this page will serve as a platform to post updates on the kiln rebuild progress for those who may not follow our social media accounts.
