Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hikarigama

Light and Dark, Night and Day.  These two pictures show the extreme characteristics of Hiroshi Ogawa's Hikarigama kiln: loud and powerful; soft and subtle.  Surprisingly, they compliment each other.  It would seem that one would war with the other, causing problems and mischief of sorts, but unlike the real Jekyll and Hyde, these opposites work together, achieving a balance, much like the swing of a pendulum.  When one force reaches it's maximum expenditure of energy, the kiln naturally swings into the direction of it's opposite; one feeding the other, as one breathes in the other breathes out till there is no more energy from it's potter friends feeding the kiln's appetite of stoking wood.  Then, at the end, there is a lull to sleep of a quiet giant, and it rests till the next time the pendulum swings.