Renaissance Man Jeremy Jennings Makes Wood-fired Pottery

Masters-degreed classical composer, winemaker and sommelier, abstract painter, and now potter in the English Arts & Crafts Tradition and the Japanese Mingei Folk Art Movement — Jeremy Jennings loves the creative process. When he isn’t working in clay, he serves as the wine and beer buyer for the San Juan Food Coop.

Raised on Waldron Island — his path has included stops in North Carolina, Philadelphia, and Italy before returning with his wife and kids to the San Juans seven years ago.

They are wheel-thrown high-fired stoneware, glazed with a mix of local clay and wood ash. Many of his works are only glazed on the inside, allowing the wood ash from the fire itself and soda to permanently imprint on the exterior surface. Flashing — when flames actually make contact with the piece — adds even more complexity to the finished pieces.

He fires 90 to 120 creations at a time in a twelve cubic foot wood-fired kiln, for 10 to 14 hours. He pushes the wood to its outer heat-producing extremes — between cone 9 (2,300°F) to cone 14 (2,450°F). During that long day, he uses 1/4 cord of wood, starting with alder wood, then switching to fir and pine. The wood firing requires continuous attention, and in the peak period of keeping the fire white hot, even as little as talking would be too distracting, he told CNL2.

Jeremy Jennings in one of 66 artists who is participating in the 2024 Studio Art Tour, June 1 and 2.

This CNL2 video is approximately 23-1/2 minutes in duration.