Functional ceramics is a special body of work. No other medium establishes such an intimate bond between the artist and the user. You hold the mug in your hands and you drink. You take your nourishment from the bowl and the plate. You share the energy and the spirit of its making.  Like most potters, I learned by firing my pots in a gas fired kiln. Most all potters, especially production potters, fire this way. The atmosphere in the kiln is stable, and the results more controllable and predictable. I still fire some pots this way, mostly in porcelain, when a form I'm interested in seems to call for pure and bright colors. But in the last several years I have focused mainly on wood-fired vessels. This is how pots were first fired, eons ago. The flame makes its mark -- it embraces the pot, and transforms it. Every pot that emerges from the wood kiln is unique. Holding the pot, seeing the trace of the flame, you have an immediate understanding of how this pot was made, and how it was fired -- how it came to be. Every unloading of the kiln is a surprise -- you relinquish expectations of perfection and give yourself over to the fire. I don't glaze the outside of most of my pots so that when you look at it, and hold it, and use it, you can share in the process of its creation. I like to make humble pots. Pots that reflect simple food, shared with family and friends. Pots you always reach for. Pots that function just as you want them to.