Clay Culture: East Creek Art Stephanie Arnold

Appears in the March 2025 issue of Ceramics Monthly.

This art venue is a destination for wood-firing enthusiasts. Workshops, shared studio space, and a remarkable anagama kiln allow artists to immerse themselves in its welcoming community. 

In 2024, when Kaden Funabashi was a senior in high school, he spent his eighteenth birthday deep in the Oregon woods at East Creek Art for a January anagama firing during what turned out to be an unprecedented ice storm. Funabashi had attended three earlier firings as part of a school group. This time he was inspired to come on his own to join a gathering of 50 seasoned potters. He brought 30 pots with him, fifteen each for the two kilns that were being fired concurrently: the anagama and the wood-fired catenary-arch kiln. For three days, when he wasn’t stoking, he slept briefly in his car under two sleeping bags and four blankets as the temperature dropped to 12°F (-11°C). But while the weather caused some of the crew to depart, Funabashi stayed close to the anagama for warmth and camaraderie with the nine hardy souls remaining. “It felt amazing. I was learning so much about the firing and how it works. I felt like I was part of a larger community. It was magical, eating the curry Joe Robinson made to keep us warm while we stoked through the night, watching snow fall while flames were shooting out of the kiln.” Funabashi now studies at Alfred University in Alfred, New York. 

Leaving Routine Behind 

East Creek Art is a ceramics retreat that occupies twenty forested acres in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range. When you come to East Creek for a workshop or a firing, you will likely spend one or more nights camping in the field by the pond or sleeping in the six-bed bunkhouse or in your RV, if you have one, although there are two small private cabins to rent if you make a reservation in time. You will share the outdoor kitchen, whatever the weather, and talk about life and art as you sit with old friends and new ones under the stars. Coming to East Creek demands that you leave routine behind. 

The heart of this place is the 40-foot East Creek anagama, first fired in 1985, that usually draws 50–90 people at a time to immerse themselves in this ancient practice where the flames and flying ash transform the surface of pots in ways that are beyond the artist’s control. Everyone commits to sharing the essential tasks: loading the pots and stoking the fire in eight-hour shifts around the clock for six days, then returning twelve days later to unload and wonder at what the fire has done. Professional artists work side by side with amateurs and students. The unique opportunities offered by the regular firing of the anagama and the other kilns, in combination with an array of classes and special events, attract 1000 participants annually from across the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Yet only twelve years ago, this historic anagama was on the verge of disappearing. 

A Foundation for Community 

East Creek Art began when Nils Lou invited Frank Boyden and Tom Coleman to join him in building an anagama on his remote property in the early 1980s. The three Oregon artists were inspired by the anagama that had been designed by Katsuyuki Sakazume in 1980 for Peters Valley School of Craft in New Jersey and were determined to build a similar kiln in Oregon. East Creek was in the vanguard of the anagama movement in the US and played a crucial role in the development of wood-fired ceramics on the West Coast. Known for the artists who fired their pieces in the mammoth kiln, educational outreach also became a central feature. But, conflict and the lack of a sustaining structure almost destroyed the foundation that had been laid. When Nils Lou died in 2013, the East Creek property, including the kiln, was slated to be sold and bulldozed. 

Instead, Joe Robinson, who had been Lou’s student and assistant at Linfield University in McMinnville, Oregon, stepped in at the last moment and, in 2015, with the support of his father, Rick Robinson, bought the twenty acres and the revered anagama for $200,000. Robinson was 27 years old. What Robinson took on was a mortgaged, ramshackle property with buildings that were caving in and weeds so tall the contour of the land itself could not be recognized. At the same time, he inherited the keen expectations of the many people who hoped East Creek, with its rich history and promise, could survive. 

Robinson graduated from Linfield University in 2009 with a double major in studio art and business and left Oregon immediately for California, determined to make his mark in corporate America. But when East Creek was threatened with extinction, he was drawn back to the place and the kiln that had been formative for him. He says, “I feel an intense sense of belonging and community here. The rituals of the kiln work and gathering around the fire, the sharing of meals.” Robinson also emphasizes the significance of “being able to just walk into the wilds. East Creek sits on the edge of the world.” For Robinson, buying East Creek and the many decisions that followed were never part of a master plan but “a reaction to doing what was needed.” That practical approach has resulted in completely rebuilt and fully equipped studio spaces, a variety of refurbished and new kilns, and a newly opened gallery, all achieved in the space of nine years and with the added distinction that East Creek is open to the public. Basic fees are charged to defray costs, but no invitation is required to participate. 

Building Relationships and a Mission 

Mike Helle, whose involvement at East Creek spans both eras of operation, sees Robinson as “a visionary leader who does the impossible, welcoming everyone, working relentlessly to transform the place.” For his part, Robinson credits multiple partnerships as essential to the revitalization of East Creek, partnerships based on sound business practices as well as art-making and educational goals. He works with regional and national granting entities that provide funding and with public and private organizations that donate equipment and building supplies. Most important are the invaluable contributions of committed stakeholders. In the early days, Cindy Hoskisson established this precedent by serving as the kiln master when Nils Lou owned the kiln, a responsibility she continued through Robinson’s first year. Elijah Pilkington began at East Creek as a high school student, and for years, Robinson has relied on his expert loading of the anagama. Amy Burnham and Mike Helle are area high school teachers who started bringing their students to East Creek in collaboration with Cindy Hoskisson and continue to be central to the expanded educational mission at East Creek’s core. Now, up to five high school and college instructors at a time spend several months working at their home institutions with small groups of students to make pieces for the anagama and then guide those students as they camp at East Creek and join the loading, stoking, and unloading. 

Building on the relationships already in place, Robinson continues to seek ways to broaden representation and increase access to the wood-fire community. In 2019, he supported a dedicated women’s firing followed by two queer-led firings in 2023 and 2024. He is currently at work on outreach to rural students and low-income area residents. Eutectic Gallery, recently relocated from Portland to East Creek under the joint management of Robinson and Anneliese Kiefer, will show a wide range of ceramic artists from within and without the East Creek community. 

As Robinson looks to the future, a primary goal, the one he calls his “north star,” is to create a sustainable institution that can outlast any one individual. He recognizes that the strength of East Creek lies in the community it serves: the artists and educators who have access to highly specialized equipment; the beginning, intermediate, and advanced potters who have the opportunity to take classes and then explore their new skills through the firing process, all working in a supportive, inspirational environment. Shared responsibility and shared leadership distinguished by bonds of trust and respect provide East Creek Art with a resilient foundation. 

the author Stephanie Arnold writes about the theatre and ceramics and also assists her husband, Mark Prieto, in his ceramics studio in Portland, Oregon. She is professor emerita of Theatre at Lewis & Clark College and the author of The Creative Spirit: An Introduction to Theatre.