Pit-fired cremation urns by 
Kathy Kuhn
(KKetal)
Portland, Oregon

photo courtesy of Paul Bourgeois

Pit-Fired Cremation Urns

In 1993, my creativity exceeded the bounds of the practice of law and flowered into expression through art in the form of hand-built, pit-fired pottery.  As I move through life, I find that I both desire and need to create art that fulfills the dual purposes of honoring the lives of those we love, and lightening the burden and fear that we feel upon the loss of those persons.

Through my work, I wish to provide those who remain behind with a piece of artwork that they can use to honor their loved one.  But my artwork is also functional, serving as a container for the ashes, the physical remains, of the loved one.  In a metaphorical sense, we are all created from the dust of the earth and our physical remains all return to the dust of the earth:  dust to dust, ashes to ashes.  My urns are made from earth and are wood-fired, being literally “tried by fire” as we all are during our lives.  After a night in the fire, the color and even the form of the urns are masked by the feathery layers of white and gray ash.  Once the urns are lifted from the ash and washed, however, the beauty of their shapes and colors emerge.  Each piece is truly unique, both in shape and color.

I form each urn individually from hand-rolled coils of clay.  I join the coils, smoothing them as I create the shape of the urn.  The level of moisture in the clay and in the air are among the factors that can take a hand in creating the shape of the urn.  Usually I feel I am more a guide than a creator; the natural forces of the earth and the creative or life spirit work through my hands, but I do not control them.  Once the urn’s shape is finalized, I repeatedly burnish, or polish, it over a period of many days as it dries.  This creates the smooth, glaze-like surface of the fired urn.  The urn is not glazed.  Instead, the colors are created naturally by spraying the urn with a salt-water solution before firing and wrapping it in materials such as copper mesh, steel wool and various leaves.  This can result in leaf images, as well as colors ranging from burgundies, oranges, golds, mauves, grays and blacks, depending on the vagaries of the fire in the pit.  The firing is done in a pit of cinder blocks, with a wood fire that is fed for about 30 minutes, then covered overnight.  A custom stopper is created by pouring liquid rubber into the neck of each urn around a handmade clay handle, rakued black. 

The entire process of creating and firing your urn keeps me close to the earth and the elemental  forces of nature -- the same forces that affect life and death.  My wish is that the creative life that is a part of your artwork, your urn, honors you or your loved one, and eases the pain and sorrow of the natural passage from this life.