Made With a Bailey Interview Featuring Terry Hildebrand

Made With A Bailey Interview featuring Terry Hildebrand

Website: www.potTerry.com

Instagram: @terry.hildebrand

Tell us about yourself, how did you get started working in clay?

I was born and raised in Manitoba and left my small town for the big city right after high school. The plan was to become a famous painter, and to that end I found myself at the University of Manitoba doing a painting major, though photography and videography really pulled at me as well. I needed a 3D course credit, so I took a ceramics class. I still wonder what I'd be doing if I didn't need that credit. I was stuck in the mud after the first semester. The community was so different in ceramics; it took teamwork to fire a wood kiln, 6 hour shifts partnered with more advanced students helped the learning curve. The coffee pot was always on; with each firing we had to test the wares out with good food (the potlucks were amazing!), and the building was never empty because clay needs looking after.

I met my partner Miriam Rudolph that first year, though she didn't continue with ceramics because the call of printmaking was too great. After graduating with a focus in ceramics I continued on at the University of Manitoba as the ceramics technician. I thought I had learned plenty in undergrad, but maintaining a studio and helping students with all kinds of ceramic related problems really taught me the technical and chemical side of ceramics. Glaze fitting, kiln building, cleaning clay traps, ordering materials, studio efficiency all helped when it came time to set up my own studio. I didn't know yet I wanted to be a studio potter. I thought I loved academia too much to leave the university. I went on to do my MFA at the University of Minnesota. It was a fantastic program! Besides the opportunity to teach classes, I was offered a position running (working in) the fabrication lab with CNC and laser cutters which led to my wood and ceramic line of work.

After graduating I followed Miriam to Edmonton, where she did her MFA at the University of Alberta. I spent three years making work, going to residencies at Medalta and the Banff Center and teaching at Medicine Hat College. We then moved back to Winnipeg to settle down, found a house with a large enough yard for both our studios, garden, and running space for our future child. We both taught sessionally at the University of Manitoba until Max was born, and now we take half days in the studio and the other half is spent with painting, making tiles, or building snowmen with Max (and much much more).

What inspires your work?

 Food and Play! I think that's what hooked me in my first year of ceramics at the UofM. All those beautiful dishes serving a variety of foods after a woodfiring. The sharing of food, drink, fellowship, and play lie at the heart of our existence and the conscious ritual and enjoyment of these are greatly enhanced by the experience of the visual and tactile senses that my ceramic wares address. 

Do you have a favorite part of the ceramic process?

Not really. I can't imagine doing ceramics without all the processes. I love throwing, but I can't imagine throwing all day-everyday. Being able to spend a day grinding kiln shelves, or a couple hours waxing bisque ware all make the unloading of the kiln later more magical. Perhaps my least favourite task is vacuuming, or maybe boxing work up.

Can you tell us about your Bailey equipment and how it helps you create your work?

I love atmospheric firing. I fell in love with wood/soda firing early on. The plan was to build a kiln in the backyard, but not a woodkiln since I live in the middle of Winnipeg and don't want to deal with smoke and bringing in cords of wood. So I talked with the fire commissioner about building a gas fired soda kiln and was given a quick and definite answer: NO. Winnipeg doesn't allow uncertified gas kilns anymore. Even when I asked about purchasing a Bailey ETL certified kiln (for US) they were hesitant to allow an install.  But after a few months of email communications between the Commissioner and Jim Bailey, the scales finally tipped. When the commissioner reviewed the ETL standards for safety and operation that Bailey kilns followed, he was convinced that the safety of the kiln was sufficent. I finally got approval to install the soda kiln.

Before getting this kiln installed I would drive 10 hours from Winnipeg to Medicine Hat to rent the soda and salt kiln at Medalta for 3-4 weeks. I loved going to Medalta and had a blast every time I stayed there, but after Max was born, I couldn't justify leaving twice a year for long periods, so having a ETL US certified Bailey kiln was just what I needed to be able to fire in my own back yard. Now word is getting out as well, and more and more people come to fire my kiln. It feels good to be able to share equipment that isn’t easily accessible.

What are you most excited to work on or try next in the studio?

At the moment I'm making tiles to go behind the wood stove we installed in our living room in the fall. We tiled the hearth pad when it was installed, but now we're thinking it might look nice to tile up the wall as well. We installed the wood stove in part as backup heat for our new geothermal heat pump in case the electricity ever cuts out in winter, and because a wood stove is lovely in winter. We put in a geothermal heating and cooling system as well as solar panels to help offset the carbon footprint created by our big natural gas kiln (maybe the first electric soda kiln will be from Bailey!). We're trying to set an example for our kid and make our processes as green as possible. That's exciting!

Do you use Bailey equipment to create your work? When posting your work on social media, remember to tag your post with #madewithabailey so we can continue to grow our Bailey clay community!