A group of Kathy King’s Monroe High School advance ceramic students had a hands-on opportunity to learn about downdrafts wood kilns and the firing process. 

Students salvaged the bricks from a kiln in Brodhead and used those bricks as well as new bricks to rebuilt a kiln at the Grandview Folk Art site just outside of Hollandale. 

The wood burning downdraft kiln will be fired for the first time at the end of October and those students will fire some of their pottery pieces then. Students will stoke the kiln about every three to five minutes throughout the day. The firing will take about 10 plus hours. In the end, they will have some beautiful pieces fired in a kiln that they helped build.