Join local Maine artist and woodfiring aficionado Tim Christensen to learn your way around Watershed’s catenary arch kiln “Salubrious Brother.” During this guided firing, Tim will lead participants through the rewardingly laborious process of woodfiring. This includes all aspects of loading, firing, unloading, and cleaning the kiln. This workshop is perfect for ceramicists who want to add woodfiring to their tool belt, or those who simply love the collaborative process!
Please note: Participants will be asked, to the best of their ability, to participate in all physical aspects of the firing. This could mean chopping and stacking wood, moving bricks, stoking the fire, interacting with the hot kiln, attending a firing shift in the middle of the night, and more.
Dates: October 4, 5, 6 & 11, 2025
Workshop Fee: $1000 (includes meals, materials & housing)
Optional Additional Housing: $65/night single room (beyond the 2 included nights)
About Tim
Tim Christensen lives in Downeast Maine and has been a potter since 1999, and working in black and white porcelain on sgraffito since 2004. He often fires work at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts using their wood and salt kilns to add varying amounts of chaos, chance, or natural variation to his controlled etchings. Tim has shown his wood-fired sgraffito porcelain pieces and taught worldwide. In 2020, he co-authored and published “Reflect, Adapt, and Persevere,” a book on his travels and environmental philosophy.
“My work is about the ever-changing web of relationships that surround us. Individuals make contact to create relationships, relationships collide to create systems. These systems change over time in response to the other systems around them. I envision my world as an infinite collection of active counterparts, individuals symbiotically wriggling and moving and jostling for space and resources. In this sea of systems, of relationships, I sit and try to untangle it, sit and try to communicate what I see changing, being created, or disappearing into the past. This is why I work in our most durable medium, porcelain, and in our longest unbroken historical record, pottery. My work, functional in the information I convey, will be understandable to anyone with an eyeball and the ability to think abstractly. My goal is to make work which still speaks clearly in 10,000 years, and more importantly, to convey the complexity and richness of the world in which I am most fortunate to live.”
Workshop Schedule
Daily Schedule:
Saturday, October 4: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 5: 4:00 a.m. to ~10:00 p.m. (varies on firing)
Monday, October 6: All participants depart Watershed by 12:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 11: 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
- A detailed breakdown of the day is provided upon registration or request.
- Breakfast is served at 8:45 a.m., lunch at 12:30 p.m. and dinner at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Breakfast is the only meal served on Monday 10/6 and Saturday 10/11.
- Participants must agree to follow Watershed’s health & safety guidelines. Read them here.
What to Bring
- The workshop fee includes:
- Kiln firing fee
- 1 cord kiln-dried wood
- Wadding
- Glaze
- Cone packs
- Individual workspace and shelving
- 2 nights on-campus housing
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner on 10/4 and 10/5. Breakfast only on 10/6 and 10/11.
- Participants must bring:
- Cone 12 bisque ware no larger than 10″ in any direction (bring as many pieces as you wish, we don’t want an empty kiln!)
- Cotton clothing and closed toe shoes
- Respirator with OV (Organic Vapor) cartridges
- Safety goggles and leather gloves (if you have them)
- Hat/bandana or other way to keep hair covered and out of the way
- Flashlight/headlamp
- Snacks to sustain you during the day! Watershed will provide some snacks, but encourages participants to bring extra as woodfiring can be tiring.
- Packing material to transport work home
- Notebook and pencil
Housing & Meals
On-Campus Housing:
Two nights of housing in a single-occupancy room is included in the workshop fee. You may add additional nights of housing on Friday October 3, Friday October 10, and/or Saturday October 11 for an additional $65 per night on your registration form as available.
Rooms are furnished with twin beds, mattress pads, and pillows. Participants must bring their own sheets, blankets, and bath towels. Bathroom facilities are shared but can be used by one person at a time, much like a bathroom in a home.
Those arriving Friday, the day before the workshop, should arrive between 2:00 p.m. and NO LATER THAN 4:00 p.m. to check in and be shown to their room.
Those arriving Saturday will be shown to their rooms that morning or at lunch.
Meals:
Watershed will provide continental breakfast, self-serve lunch, and dinner Saturday and Sunday. Light breakfast is available Monday 10/6 ahead of your departure at 12:00 p.m. Breakfast is the only meal served on Saturday 10/11. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten free diets can be accommodated. Those with additional dietary needs are welcome to bring supplemental food to store and prepare in Watershed’s studio kitchenette.
Payments & Cancellations
50% of the workshop fee and any housing fees are due with your registration. The remaining balance will be invoiced to you via the email used for registration.
Please familiarize yourself with Watershed’s Cancellation Policy.