My Story
About me and the process of my craft.
Still from Neighborhoods of Pittsburgh-Polish Hill by Dean Bog
Working with your hands is personal. Each piece marks of a moment in time when the sometimes slow, rhythmic movements of my hands create something new to be enjoyed in the world. I hope these pieces bring you well loved moments in your life.
Meghan Burke is from a small beach town on the coast of New Jersey. She is an avid animal lover, nature enthusiast, and novice gardener. She graduated from Saint Joseph’s University with a Bachelors of Art. Meghan has traveled to several residencies across the U.S including: Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts (New Castle, Maine), Byrdcliffe Arts Guild (Woodstock, New York), and Elsewhere Studios (Paonia, Colorado). From her journeys she then discovered another craft school, Touchstone Center for Crafts, and that is where she fell in love with wood firing. Meghan currently resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and continues to fire at Touchstone’s wood kiln.
The process of using wood to fire and finish pottery has been around since the 5th century. It is a primitive firing method and the results vary based on clay body, type of wood, placement of pots in the kiln, and firing time/technique. Each piece of pottery that comes out of a wood kiln is a unique mark in time based on what has occurred during the firing. This means no piece is exactly the same; the flames and wood ash create different surfaces. Wood firing is arduous and demanding. When firing a wood kiln there are usually groups or teams of people. Each shift lasts several hours and one is stoking or adding wood to the kiln continuously for several days. The kiln is solely fueled by wood and as the kiln heats up the ash and flames move throughout the kiln, pushing its way through the pots that have been loaded inside and leaving its mark on them. As the kiln reaches its desired temperature of about 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit the pots inside glow while the wood ash hits the pottery and melts onto them creating the surface and glaze. Wood firing is a physical process but the results can be extremely rewarding. Each pot is a unique story from the kiln.
