To alumni and students at Marmion Academy in Aurora, the traditional Friday night bonfire is a highlight of homecoming week.

To Lisa Dzuricsko and Joe Hernandez, though, it's the world's largest kiln.

Again this year, art instructor Dzuricsko and ceramic artist Hernandez used the bonfire -- hundreds of burning wooden pallets resulting in temperatures of 1,100 degrees -- to fire pottery made by art students at the college prep school for boys.

"It's beautiful. Gorgeous," Dzuricsko said of the bonfire. "But it's even better because you're creating something."

The bonfire-as-kiln idea came to Hernandez, a retired Waubonsee Community College ceramics, drawing and art instructor, a few years ago when he was displaying his work at a homecoming week art show at the school.

"I'd look out the window and see these huge flames jumping up. I'm a fire guy. So it was, wow, what is that ?" he said a few days before this year's bonfire. "One year I told [Dzuricsko], 'What a waste of heat.'"

The idea of using the bonfire got kicked around for a while, then four years ago they did their first firing. Richard Westlund, a friend of Hernandez's, snagged some 55-gallon drums from where he worked. The students also got into it -- hey, it's fire -- and the little art/science experiment was a success. It has now become a regular part of Marmion art classes and homecoming.

"We've started a little legacy," Hernandez said.

The students make their pieces -- most are masks -- a week or two before homecoming, using raku clay, which is stronger than other clay. The items go into a kiln to be bisqued, then the students decorate them. They apply a variety of metalic washes and other materials in the hopes of getting different colors on the finished product.

Cobalt carbonate, a mix of Calgon and water, Miracle Gro, sodium phosphate and Neutrogena Visibly Firm Night Cream (it has copper in it) were some of the washes that the students applied. Organic matter was laid on the masks -- potato peels, coffee grounds, pieces of copper and aluminum pot scrubbers, dog hair, copper wire. And banana peels.

"The banana peel [leaves] the best color," Dzuricsko, finishing off a banana, told the students as they prepped their masks.

When they were done, the pieces were wrapped in newspaper and packed in the drums and cans with pine shavings and sawdust. In the past, they've also thrown in water softener pellets, twigs and steel wool, all of which affect the color.

Because the containers take a beating, new 55-gallon drums and 16-gallon oil drums were secured.

"There was still some oil in them. They'll burn real good," Dzuricsko predicted, sounding almost pyromaniacal.

There were, as one might expect, a couple of small hitches. Students from Rosary High School -- Marmion's all-girl sister school -- brought over some pieces to put in the barrels. They were a little bigger than anticipated and room had to be found for them.

"Then the horse pee didn't come," Dzuricsko said, sounding truly disappointed.

The "horse pee" was from old horse bedding that was to be used as packing in the drums. The urea in the straw can produce a greenish color. A student was going to bring some in, but the plan fell through, leaving the barrels with just the pine chips and sawdust.

About 200 kids were represented -- 156 freshmen and 24 studio students from Marmion and about 20 Rosary students. The cans went into the center of the bonfire area on Wednesday, and the pallets were then pyramided atop them. The pyre was lit around 7:30 Friday evening and burned brightly for several hours.

Dzuricsko, Hernandez and art instructor Jeanne McLean stood guard all night in camping chairs and their vehicles. Up by 5, they started clearing away glowing ashes to make a path to the containers. Several of the lids had blown off the drums. One of the smaller barrels crumpled, and it took some effort to get it open.

They started removing pottery from the drums about 6 a.m. With the help of three Marmion students who showed up, they sifted through the ashes, pulling out the masks and other pieces the students had created. The area started looking like an archeological dig, with the masks lined up side by side.

The pottery, by and large, survived in excellent shape. Maybe a half-dozen pieces broke, but they could be repaired. The coloring was good and promised to look even better after the ash was cleaned off. And the students' reaction?

"Most of them were really happy," Dzuricsko said. "For some it's not exactly what they expected. Some who aren't, we'll refire their pieces in the kiln. We'll lose the color, but they can glaze them.

"They were happyish."