A studio built for bold work.

The studio is home to one of the largest wood-fired kilns in the Midwest, and one of the few anywhere capable of firing monumental clay sculpture. Very few places can support this scale, and even fewer bring work of this size through a wood firing. The surfaces that emerge cannot be made any other way.

The work begins with clay moved by hand, by crane, and by its own weight. Each piece is built slowly, section by section, over the course of months. The forms must support their mass while they dry — a process that can take just as long. Any trapped moisture or rushed step risks cracking or collapse. Nothing about the scale allows shortcuts.

When the sculpture is finally ready, it enters a firing that rises past 2000°F. The kiln burns for days. Wood is fed in around the clock. Heat, ash, and flame move through the chamber and across the work, settling into the clay and altering it. Flashing, ash deposits, and surface shifts happen on their own terms. The fire determines as much as the hand does, and the outcome cannot be repeated.

The kiln, the cranes, and the space around them exist for one purpose: to make large, enduring sculpture possible. The process is ancient, but the scale is rare. Each piece is built to withstand the fire — and everything beyond it.