Thow Kwang Clay Artists are having an exhibition of their wood-fired pieces!

Come and see the multiplicity of wood-ash effects on clay – each uniquely fired by the dragon’s ‘breath’.

Exhibition: 11 June – 2 July; 10am – 5pm
Venue: Thow Kwang Pottery Jungle, 85 Lorong Tawas (off Jalan Bahar)

Join Thow Kwang Clay Artists on the evening of February, 25 for our annual firing of the historic dragon-kiln!

This firing will be extra special, as we will be firing the entire length of the kiln for the first time in many years.

We will fire up the barbecue pit, so please bring your own food to cook and drinks, and plan to spend the evening relaxing and dining in nature. We will also have an education tour at 8pm. Please arrive 15 minutes early for the tour.

Every wood-firing at the dragon kiln is a wonderful experience for all who come. You can read about our previous wood-firings here, here and here. Or watch a video of our 2003 firing here.

So bring along your friends and family to watch a traditional wood firing!

Please Note: To ensure that you enjoy the evening in comfort, please bring insect repellent if you are susceptible to insect bites, as the place is adjacent to a secondary forest.

Address: Thow Kwang Industry Pte Ltd, 85 Lorong Tawas (off Jalan Bahar). Click here to see map.

July: The Dragon Kiln’s Past
The Goh brothers paid a nostalgic visit to the dragon kiln. In the early 1960s, The Goh family operated the dragon kiln before the Tan family bought over the kiln. The Goh brothers took a step back into the past and shared their treasured memories of the dragon kiln.

August
The structure of the dragon kiln was affected by wear and tear as well as by the heavy piling works by Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) in the vicinity.

This area is earmarked for the development of a CleanTech Park. Here are the artist impressions of the development (taken from JTC’s website).

Read JTC’s masterplan for the CleanTech Park development here,  here and here. To date, the government bodies involved in this project have not been forthcoming on how the development will affect the dragon kiln. Will this historic dragon kiln be kept intact and preserved for posterity or will it be demolished in the name of economic development?

October: Kiln Repair

December: Something’s Happening!
Stay tuned for an exciting event in early 2011…

Read Retrospective Part I here

Posted by CLim

As we look forward to more great happenings at Thow Kwang in 2011, we pause a moment to take a look at the highlights of 2010.

April: Busy Potters
Clay Artists created new pieces for another wood-firing!

April: Sketchers at Dragon Kiln
A group of Urban Sketchers visited Thow Kwang and penciled/inked their impressions of the place.

May: Dragon Kiln Firing
The wood-firing was held on the Vesak weekend of 28 -29th May.  Lifestyle celebrity Martha Stewart joined us for the firing and lit the first flame with Mr and Mrs Tan. That evening, there was a huge turnout to watch the firing and everyone pitched in to help and had a great night-out.

June: Wood-Fired Pots
The unique and varied outcomes from the wood-ash-salt firing.

Click here to view a gallery of our wood-fired pieces.

June: Create! Ikebana and our Wood-Fired Pots
Ikebana expert Linda Nederkoorn showed us how we can combine the delicate and simple form of Japanese flower arrangements with our wood-fired pieces.

Read 2010 Retrospective Part II here.

Posted by Clim

Martha produced a series of videos when she made a Singapore stopover in May this year. The videos were telecast in The Martha Stewart Show in October. What did she think of Muthu’s fish head curry or Singapore’s favourite dish – chilli crabs?  Click here to follow Martha as she made her grand tour of Singapore.

Posted by CLim

Martha Stewart made a stop-over at the dragon kiln on her Southeast Asian tour to film the sights and sounds of Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore as part of a documentary travel series for her show.  In Singapore, she also visited the Botanic Gardens, Marina Bay Sands, Bollywood Veggies, to name a few.

Mr & Mrs Tan played host and gave her a personal tour of the Pottery Jungle. Martha witnessed and took part in the lighting of the first flame to start the firing. She also watched a rare demonstration by Teck Whui, who masterfully threw a huge pot on the kick wheel.

Read about her impressions of  her visit to Thow Kwang Dragon Kiln here.

Posted by CLim

We waited, waited and waited…

It was the longest wait ever!  Finally, the kiln walls came down a week later on June 6th.

There was a flurry of activity as we went into action to unpack the kiln. As we carried the pieces, we also gave them a closer look. Which pieces had the best wood-ash effect? Were there pieces splattered with salt? Were there any casualties? How many pieces were fired well and how many weren’t?

The pieces in 1st, 2nd and 3rd chambers had disappointing results. The upright cones indicated that the temperature did not reach 1,200 degrees Celsius. Hence, many of the pieces were not “matured”.

Tia arranged the pieces according to where they were placed in the kiln for documentation purposes, while Mrs Tan happily showed off the ash glaze results on the chawan.

Mr Tan and Bakar took a closer look at the wood-fired effects on Bakar’s teapots.

So many pieces – varied and unexpected effects, all carried the unique marks of wood-fired.

Linda and Yang Ce were more than satisfied with their masterpieces.

Posted by CLim

At around midnight, the fire in the firebox was blazing at 1,100 degrees Celsius.. The fire was well maintained and we hit the target temperature in the firebox after 15 hours of firing.

The stoke holes in the firebox were bricked up and the firing moved to the side stoke-holes.

This is always an interesting part of the firing as we can finally take a peek into the kiln and see the liquid flames dancing and swirling around our pieces.

Although the flames looked hot and fiery, the temperature was not able to reach 1,200 degree Celsius in the first two chambers. The firers had it tough.

When dawn broke, the firing stagnated at the first two chambers. The firers had no choice but to move on to the third, fourth and fifth chambers.

After 33 hours, firing ended at around 6pm on Saturday evening. How will our pieces turn out? No one knows. All we can do is to wait and hope for the best. Right now, all we need were a shower and sleep!

Posted by CLim

Oh! What a night! What a turn out!

The evening started quietly after the afternoon downpour. Among the early arrivals were a group of sketchers (Tia’s students from Temasek Poly) and local photographers, all eager to capture the night’s events. Film-maker, Royston Tan was also around with his crew shooting an HD video.

As dusk fell, people from all corners of Singapore, from all walks of life started to stream in – families with kids, parents and grandparents, young and old came to join us for an evening by the kiln fire. Many came with coolers packed with drinks and food to BBQ and feast. The spirit of gotong royong was evident when you see everyone helping with the firing, sharing food and conversations, and strangers became friends.

The news of the firing spread beyond our shores and there was a group of shutterbugs who came all the way from Malaysia.

Some of the visitors couldn’t resist and joined in to stoke the fire which was at a very toasty 800 degrees Celsius.

One of the highlights of the evening was Steven and his friends on their djembes. They certainly brought a touch of African rhythm and beat to Pottery Jungle, and some of our guests had an impromtptu drum lesson.

There was so much happening that I couldn’t capture it all. So here are some links of friends who had blogged, sketched, and shot the event. If you have captured your impressions of the firing and have posted them, please leave a comment below and share your URL.

• Kevin Lim’s Liveblog
• Calvin Yew’s Blog
• Chuah Song Hui’s Photo Album
• Tan Cheow Ping’s Photo Album
• Tung Tong’s Photo Album
• Dan Lim’s Photo Album
• Tia Boon Sim’s Sketches
• Isaac Tan’s Blog

We hope that everyone enjoyed the evening as much as we did. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our helpers, friends, and friends of friends who joined us on Veask Day evening and made it a memorable wood-firing!

Posted by CLim

The day began early for everyone as we had to be at dragon kiln by 7am. When we arrived, an American TV crew was busy setting up and briefing Mr & Mrs Tan before the show’s celebrity arrived. We can’t disclose the celebrity and the program until it is telecast in the US in the later part of the year. Oh well! But the potters had a more important task at hand to see to – the Firing.

Firing began at 9am with prayers and offerings of fruits, wine, and roasted meat to the kiln God.

Here are our supertrooper helpers for the first shift: Ling Mei and young Bing Han:

Cheng Huang and Mui Luang had their Chinese fans handy to keep cool in the heat:

Hee Lai showed his wood-tossing skills at the firebox:

Stoke-a-wish crane for good luck!

Temperature at 12pm was about 200 degrees Celsius! A great start!

Posted by CLim