Glastonbury Festivals 1984 to 1994
CrackpotsCAO first engagement in 1984 was conducted on a budget of £100 for materials. A crew of six carried out clay workshops in the Children’s Field over the three day event. Pieces which were dry enough, were fired Saturday night in a wood fired kiln that had been built using recycled fire bricks which had been salvaged from a disused brick works.
A marquee was provided by the Children's World organisers along with wood to fuel the kiln. About 200 ceramic pieces were made altogether, but only about 100 were fired due to the very limited time scale. In spite of being one of the wettest festivals ever, CrackpotsCAO performance was so well received that we were invited to back to run clay workshops in the following years with increased budgets.
CrackpotsCAO has successfully run clay workshops in the Children’s Field at every festival between 1984 and 1994. Here are some more photos from the Children's Field ..
![[15]](https://www.crackpots.org.uk/glastonbury/Childrens_Field_KateSweeney.jpg){kind=link}
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In 1992, Health and Safety regulations precluded the use of live fire kilns in the Children’s Field. This aspect of our activities consequently became located in the Green Crafts Field. The new location 2 miles distant from the Children’s Field - is on the other side of the festival site. This presented the logistical problem of transporting the children’s work to the kiln for firing at the end of each days workshop and then back again to the Children’s Field by the next lunchtime. About 500 pieces were fired in a double chambered, climbing bank kiln.
kiln drawings [23]
This kiln was built using waste clay and was fired using off cuts of Spruce, both of which were provided by the venue. The budget for 1992 was £150 for materials and tickets for crew Crackpots members.
Photos of the Green Field site, kiln and crew - [25]
Pots before firing - drying above the kiln's fire mouth - [32]
Another potter in the Green Crafts Field in 1992. [33]
Children in the Green Crafts Field -[34]
and the person responsible for all this fire and filth [37]
Alfazed in the crew quarters.
Each year, a new type of kiln was constructed, and the number of fired pieces increased as did the numbers of people helping as well as Crackpots crew. 1994 was the last appearance of CrackpotsCAO at Glastonbury Festival. This project was directed by Gordon Clarke, who organised the clay workshops in the Children's Field and provided the kiln design which was built in the Green Crafts Field.
The kiln successfully accomplished two firings over three days, in the process breaking many conventional expectations for kiln performance.
As for the future ? CrackpotsCAO would very much like to perform again at Glastonbury Festival.
"I am very grateful to Michael Evis, the organiser of Glastonbury Festivals and all his staff that have enabled Crackpots Community Arts Organisation to appear/perform at this venue, allowing experimental field trials of these kilns. This element of the festivals has been very important to CrackpotsCAO's development. This is a particularly important fact: finding a venue where Crackpots could conduct these types of kiln building projects shows ground-breaking support for artists. Consequently, I take this opportunity to express how very grateful I am for having had these opportunities, where I have developed my own knowledge as well as having had lots of fun along the way. Thanks also goes out to all the other folks who have worked with CrackpotsCAO at the Glastonbury Festivals. Thank you for helping us to get our act together.
