INTRODUCTION
By
Peter Stichbury
This
publication of the combined diaries of Bruce and Estelle Martin
contains recollections of their working life together, their travels
and their devotion to pottery.
My
wife Diane and I knew Bruce and Estelle since the early 1960s and our
mutual love of pottery informed our close friendship in the
succeeding years.
Bruce
and Estelle started by making stoneware in an oil-fired kiln with
great success. Then, to our surprise, we found them building a large
anagama kiln – whale-shaped with the main firebox at the ‘nose’
and several side stoking minor fireboxes along the flanks. Little was
known of these kilns in New Zealand at the time and Bruce and Estelle
had to rely to a certain extent on instinct. The building of what
was, in effect, a climbing kiln up a slope was physically demanding
work for two such slightly built people.
Diane
and I were invited to their first two firings, in 1982 and 1983.
There we saw the lovely stacks of cut wood, carefully arranged in
water tanks laid on their sides. For nine days and nights we enjoyed
the quiet, peaceful atmosphere. I was invited to place a few pots in
the second firing and these came out very well.
Kilns
of this nature require a large amount of physical effort and a
perfectly controlled rhythm to ensure a constant supply of energy to
keep them going. In Bruce’s writing one notes this need for rhythm,
for spacing and constant analysis of the firing procedure. If there
were a few problems at the first firing, as Bruce explains, they were
quickly overcome.
The
kiln took about ten days to cool and the first results were exciting.
Estelle, in particular, was keen to observe the precise location of
each pot in the kiln before it was taken out. Only then could lessons
be learned about amounts of melted ash, glaze, colour and particular
effects of flame movement. In the early days other potters came to
help; later firings were an exclusively family affair.
As
the diaries make clear, Bruce and Estelle did not rely only on the
literature about firing anagama kilns. They made trips to Japan to
see things at first hand. A Japanese potter came to Kamaka where he
made pots and directed a firing.
In
2008 Bruce and Estelle Martin were awarded Honorary Membership of the
New Zealand Society of Potters in recognition of their distinctive
contribution to New Zealand ceramics, a fact that had already seen
many awards and prizes bestowed on them. It has been a privilege to
know them and to see their devotion to their work.
The
Heron Migrates is a valuable addition to the catalogue of the
touring retrospective exhibition Kamaka: The Ceramics of Bruce and
Estelle Martin first shown at the Hawke’s Bay Cultural Centre,
Hastings in October 2005.
Peter
Stichbury, MNZM Auckland.
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