It had rained heavily during the night. I put on my rubber boots and get ready to walk Wolfi. The heavy & soggy clay soil does not make for an easy walk. Determined though, we continue. Wolfi runs in leaps and bounds, happy to chase after the scent of deer and by-gone rabbits.
Another person approaches, with a bigger dog, from the other end of the green grass field. We meet. We talk about the weather while the dogs sniff each other. We introduced ourselves: “My name is Jan Kollwitz.” I detect a slight bow, a stylized Japanese bow. I recognized his name right away: “Well, my name is Andrea. I have heard a lot about you. You are an artist of Japanese ceramics here in the village, aren’t you?”
And so we begin to walk together through the green and wet field… I learn that he used to live in Japan for a couple of years, learn about the 400 year old tradition of Japanese ceramics through a traditional master, and learn about his own Japanese, wood-fired kiln. He graciously invites us to see his place.
* * *
A couple of days later, we visit him in his old brick house (the former pastorate). He took us right to the back and showed us the anagama kiln he built with the help of a 70-year-old traditional Japanese kiln-builder some 20 years ago.
 In the anagama kiln, glaze is not applied to the pottery. Rather, the pieces are exposed to flames, smoke, glowing coal and ash. This makes for red and grey, and sometimes blue and purple colorings. The ash of the burning wood flies through the kiln and settles as fine dust over all the clay pieces. At temperatures above 1250 degrees Celsius, this dust combines with the clay and melts into a glaze. This naturally produced fly-ash glaze will vary in color depending on where the pottery item is positioned in the kiln.
 The kiln is fired once a year for four days continuously. New wood is added every three minutes all day and night. The colors are determined not only by the particular mixture of clays, the stacking in the kiln, but also through the selection of types of wood (pine wood for example create a green hue) and the rhythm between oxidation and reduction, and the overall intensity of the fire. To fire up his kiln he needs four weeks of cutting & splitting 20 cubic meters of pine.
 Jan asks us to step into his house. We go through his sparsely furnished interior living space before entering his exhibition space. It reminds us so of Japan, and we forget for a quite while where we are. This room is equipped with drawers that function as presentation tables, covered by Tatami mats, where we see his beautiful art pieces – each one different from the other. Truly fascinating. We congratulate him for his enthusiasm, passion, profession and success. He is doing really well for himself. We're just delighted he invited us – it gave us a glimpse of his world.
 Looking through his brochures he hands us as we leave, we learn that Jan is the great-grandson of renowned artist Kaethe Kollwitz. (He himself never spoke of it.) He has made quite a name for himself. You just never know who you or your dog will meet while walking through the marshy lowlands of the Ostsee.
www.jankollwitz.de
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