The Mounds Anagama, Dan Anderson Studio, Edwardsville, IL
With Dan Anderson, Bob Archambeau and Ben Bates
April 8-15, 2017
in the spring of 2017 I was invited to come and fire the Mounds Anagama at Dan Anderson’s studio in Edwardsville, IL . Dan was a close friend of Don Reitz and had worked with him for many years, firing some of Don’s pieces in the Mounds kiln as well as heading out to Arizona to help fire Don’s kiln at Reitz Ranch. I was working on a posthumous collaboration with Don’s work with the Reitz family and wanted to use the kilns that Don fired in throughout his career to finish a group of pieces in the Lost Works project.
With Dan’s kind invitation, I shipped one of Don’s tea stacks and a group of my pieces to Edwardsville for the firing. I worked with Dan’s local firing crew of friends, artists and students from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Ben Bates, who has fired with Dan numerous times, brought a group of students from the Lake County Community College (north of Chicago area) and helped spearhead the firing.
This incredible group of people were instrumental in helping me finish the work for the exhibition Lost and Found: The Gustin/Reitz Collaborations that was shown at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts in Wayzata, MN during the 2019 NCECA conference held in Minneapolis. I give my thanks and gratitude for all who helped make this exhibition a reality.