This resurrection of matter into sensuous experience has its physical root in an other, less obvious, oc­cult­ism; an oc­cult­ism ceramics share with the other arts of the fire: enamel-paint­ing and glass-making. The transformations of the matter is effectuated in the closed space of the kiln. It is in this sense ceramics is a philosophical or scientific art, giving form to creation in its most profound sense. But as this creation or transmutation is hidden in the kiln, the artist’s “tools” are the elements: the proportions of earth and water, and the administration of fire through air.