Robin DuPont: Wood-firing in Canada

Robin DuPont received his BFA from the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary and his MFA from Utah State University in Logan, Utah. He also studied at the Kootenay School of the Arts in Nelson and the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. He has been a visiting artist and instructor at numerous institutions, has participated in several artist residencies, and has built a variety of wood-fired kilns in Canada. In 2013, DuPont was nominated for the RBC Emerging Artist Award, and in 2021, he received the North-West Ceramics Foundation Mayer Wosk Award of Excellence. He lives in the Slocan Valley, in the interior of BC. He makes utilitarian wood and atmospheric-fired pots, which are exhibited across Canada and the United States. Recent exhibitions include Thrown, at the Touchstones Museum of Art & History in Nelson, BC, and a solo exhibition, Of This Place, at the Langham, in Kaslo, BC, both in 2021. In his talk, Wood-firing in Canada, DuPont will share his insights into how the genre of wood-firing plays a role in contemporary ceramics in Canada. He will discuss makers, kilns, influences at work within the genre, and innovating a process that is thousands of years old. From kiln architecture to dispelling stereotypes, the artist will share his thoughts on the people and places contributing to this field.