Potter’s kiln roars in Faber

By Erin McGrath

Published: June 11, 2008

Driving back to Buck Creek Pottery in Faber is like venturing into another world.

Located on Buck Creek Lane, off U.S. 29, the gravel road travels up and over small mountains and creeks and back to property owned by Trew and Tony Bennett.

Rounding a corner to climb up the driveway leading to the Bennett’s house and studio, visitors can see smoke rising from their 28-year-old wood burning kiln, which looks like a large, over-turned boat with stone steps surrounding it.

“It’s just like a big wood stove,“ Trew Bennett said.

During the week of May 15, the Bennetts’ and their students fired the kiln for the 16th time.

Working in six hour shifts for five days, the Bennetts and half a dozen art students from around the area will push salvaged wood into the kiln every 15 minutes, keeping the blaze burning around 2100 degrees.

“When we’re firing, we’re firing,“ Trew Bennett said. “When we’re not, we’re sleeping.“

In between loading wood into the kiln, Trew gives the students words of encouragement or information on how the kiln is working and what is happening with the fire.

Bennett said she likes to fire her pots with a wood-burning kiln because of the type of pottery she is interested in, Southeast Asian pottery.

“My Japanese teachers, traditionally, they’re firing in the original ways with wood and the effects are very appealing to our eyes,“ Bennett said.

Bennett first became interested in pottery in the mid-1960’s, when she took a class taught by Teruo Hara from Kyoto, Japan, at the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington D.C.

“I came from a very proper, well-behaved family in Cleveland, but by the mid-60’s, there was such confusion and chaos and torment that somehow working with the pottery and making something right from beginning to end, understanding the whole process, was really psychologically important,“ Bennett said.

While studying with Hara, Bennett met another teacher who would influence her pottery life, Takashi Nakazato.

Bennett and her husband, Tony, purchased land in Nelson County in 1972 and for six years, used their summers off from teaching to build their home and studio. In 1978, the Bennetts made the permanent move to Faber and became full-time potters and pottery teachers.

“Over the years, this form developed where we would have young students come live with us and learn and help and then go on,“ Trew said. “It was a time when I was very excited about pottery and loved passing it on. In a way, it became the model that has evolved. I needed their help and they need my studio and we’ve always done it as an exchange.“

After moving to Nelson, the Bennetts began to research building a wood-burning kiln on their property. They traveled around New England, visiting other woodburning kiln sites.

“There was no Google,“ Trew Bennett said. “There was hardly any information about it. We ended up, when we visited Rob Bernard in Tem-perville, Vermont, we liked his kiln the best.“

The Bennetts completed their woodburning kiln in the summer of 1981. A few months later, Trew found out she was pregnant with their son, and Tony start Buck Creek Nursery.

“The truth is mother nature sent me a wonderful son late in life and it was at that point that Tony started Buck Creek nursery because there had to be some real income coming in,“ Trew Bennett said.

Since then, Trew has continued to make and teach pottery from her Faber home.

“When I began with my pottery, I began to find what I call my voice and my face,“ Bennett said. “This is what I want to present to the world. Pottery has been a very lively resting place for me over the years.“