Owen Rye is known internationally for his contributions to the contemporary wood-firing movement. He thinks of his role as a ceramist as something similar to a matchmaker, matching and blending material and process. He was born in 1944 in Australia and completed his doctorate in 1970. For 25 years he taught ceramics at the Canberra School of Art and at Monash University Gippsland. He has taught many wood firing workshops in Australia, the USA, and Europe and has exhibited his work internationally. Although he had to stop wood firing for health reasons, Rye continue working with stoneware, photography, sculpture, and writing as he is the author of five books.