JEFFERY MINCHAM AM

MUCH IN COMMON NOTHING ALIKE

The time that it takes to bring together the disparate components of a medium and its processes, a group of ideas and an expressive form is daunting to say the least. However, it is all worth it when these components of the creative process eventually line up in such a way that every step is an adventure and a revelation.

I have been working with these materials for a very long time, decades as it happens, however I have only recently seen a glimpse of their full potential. The glazes that I have created are especially demanding.

I am virtually alone in the use of this unusual family of ceramic surfaces and consequently have had to find my own way. Now I have a unique palette at my disposal to apply to my expressive tasks.

The forms themselves are the result of years of paring down – eliminating the unnecessary to resolve the clarity of the message and to let the whole work speak for itself. The scale is important but so is the simplicity and the ‘structural elegance’. Like everything in ceramics, the work has history. One cannot help a look over one’s shoulder at how others have approached this process – sometimes hundreds of years ago. Powerful ideas survive and there are some resolutions of form and surface that will endure forever.

The works in this exhibition have been initially inspired by some dramatic events around my home at Cherryville, but it is also a coming together of other things, some of which have taken a long time to get into place. The story to be told, the command of the medium and a sense of purpose now reside happily together.

Jeffery Mincham AM

Chameleon in the round Dia. 43x10h cm