Kim Ellington
NC Mountains Pre-Conference Artist and Conference Panelist
NC Mountains Pre-Conference Artist
Kim Ellington lives in the community of Vale, North Carolina, where the use of local clays, ash (alkaline) glaze and high temperature groundhog kilns began in the early 19th century and continues through his work today. In 1998 Ellington built what he calls a modified Groundhog kiln, which incorporates side stoking ports and tapered exit into the chimney. A typical firing cycle is 14 to 16 hours with a 12 hour warm up (150 degrees) using yellow pine. Using the local alkaline glaze, the variety of atmosphere and temperature produced by this kiln has resulted in some surprising effects, echoing the brown and black glazed ceramics made in China during the Song and Jin periods (11th – 12th century). He constantly experiments with the firing duration and temperature and continue to be surprised with the variety of glaze results using the same glaze formulae.
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