February 13, 2009
Earth, Wind, and Fire
Richard Bresnahan's elemental approach to art — and life
Photograph by Tom Roster
Richard Bresnahan checks the fire in the Johanna Kiln at Saint John's University, in Minnesota. See a slideshow of his pottery and the firing of the kiln here.
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Photograph by Tom Roster
Richard Bresnahan checks the fire in the Johanna Kiln at Saint John's University, in Minnesota. See a slideshow of his pottery and the firing of the kiln here.
On the eighth night of firing, a crisp October evening in Minnesota, the Johanna Kiln is breathing like a dragon, belching methane fumes that explode as soon as they hit the outside air. It's the light show of a primal transformation.
Joe Daly stands at one end of the 87-foot-long brick kiln, eyes wide and mouth open slightly, watching people crawl up on the side to stack wood and check the fire. "It's amazing," he says. A senior at Saint John's University here, he once walked down
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