Clay Allure Jennifer McCurdy Interview
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Handbilding trends (p.16)
$15.00
Raku-wild fire (p.15)
December 2014 1
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Big Savings Big Store Once a Year Sale
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Make an impression - in clay lines dots and splash wing nuts
primary tool
kitchen tools
found objects
buttons
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ilie o d
START
door mats
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SMALL
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Jennifer M American
Master of Thrown, Caved an
Vortex Vessel
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McCurdy Treasure
nd Pierced Porcelain
Coral Candle Vessel
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Coral Vessel
Jennifer McCurdy
Gilded Coral Vessel
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eramic artist Jennifer McCurdy lives on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. She has been working with porcelain for over twenty five years. For the last few years, she has been working with structural questions. How thin can the high fire porcelain be before it collapses in the fire? How much can it be cut away and still maintain structural integrity? How can the structural form be integrated with the visual, as in nature? How can the movement of the potter’s wheel 8
Ribbon Vessel
Margrit’s Butterfly Vessell and the fire of the kiln be reflected in the finished piece, which is rock-hard and permanent? “Emotion fills me when I see perfect forms in nature, from the cracked conch shell on the beach revealing its perfect spiral, to the milkweed pod burst in the field, its brilliant airborne seeds streaming into the sunlight. The ordered symmetry and asymmetry of nature’s forms reveal the growth of life, the movement of life.Living on Martha’s
VortexVessel
Vineyard, island time, especially in the winter, seems to conform to nature’s cycles. As a potter, I strive to make my work reflect the balance of life around me. It is important that the patterns I see around me are integrated into my forms.� You may purchase work at a gallery located near you, visit Jennifer at an upcoming event, or commission work directly from her if not in stock. Please contact us for current pricing and availability
Costa Rica Egg
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Artist’s Interview LaFontsee Gallery Garry Mirando, Photographer was something I could not forget. I amused myself on many occasions after that, twisting pieces of cut up coat hangers into curly cues and balancing them horizontally with kite string
Golden Wing
“I never wanted to be an artist. I just wanted to play with clay” 4. What artists influenced you the most? Current influences?
1. What was your first memorable experience with art? My first memory at all was of decorating a pine cone when I was two. But now I think I was excited, not by the glitter, but by really seeing the pine cone as art. What can be more beautiful that a pine cone? 2. Can you explain when you first knew you wanted to be an artist? Who/what turned you on to art? I never wanted to be an artist. I just wanted to play with clay, draw, build blocks, like all children do. My grandmother taught me the
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rudiments of watercolor when I was a little older. She painted for many years and exhibited in some shows. She also taught me Ikebana - the art of Japanese flower arranging. 3. Is there any single piece of art that had an impact on you as a child? An adolescent? An adult I remember as a child being blown away by a large Calder mobile, hanging - I don’t remember where. That something so massive as those large slices of metal could be balanced so perfectly as to gracefully wander though the air creating colorful, flowing arcs as they did so,
Well, I’ve always loved Georgia O’Keefe - the forms she painted, as well as her attitude. In clay, I learned by watching better potters throw, trim, and glaze. Louis Raynor, one of my professors at Michigan State University, said that your most important tool as a potter was the hammer, and I have always thought that to be good advice. I learned to throw bottles by watching the disciplined precision of a potter from Iraq. I was further influenced by the superb teaching of John McCoy, at Florida Atlantic University, who taught me the nuances of throwing porcelain. More currently, I have been influenced by the concept of fractals, first introduced to me in a book called “Fractals - The Patterns of Chaos. Discovering a New Aesthetic of Art, Science, and Nature”, by John Briggs.
5. What do you like most about the medium and surface you use?
I don’t know. I guess I think that that is their responsibility.
curve and line, the edge and volume, with their touch.
I like the smoothness and starkness of porcelain; it’s like bleached bones or white beach rocks. I wish to find the structure of the vessel, the skeleton of the vessel, and I wish the surface design to be the light and shadows, created by the structure. Porcelain possesses translucency, as well a quality of reflecting light without being shiny.
8. Do you have predetermined ideas of what your finished work will be like, or do the ideas emerge in process?
10. Do you have a favorite saying?
Because I confine myself to the thrown form, I am mostly working within a sphere. But there seem to be infinite possibilities within that parameter. 6. What information/ideas are behind your current body of work? Perhaps it is still about creating movement and balance in a porcelain vessel form. The clay is so plastic, alive, under your fingers when you throw it on the wheel, the wet clay so giving when you alter it, and it becomes molten and soft in the white-hot belly of the kiln. But after it cools it is hard - one of the hardest substances know to man, so it is all too easy for it to lose its motion. 7. What do you want people to respond to in your work?
Work in progress
My work is very process oriented, in that I try to throw a pure form, then add volume by altering it while the form is still wet, and then carving lines to add movement to the volume of the form. I have a general idea of
“ I was further influenced by the superb teaching of John McCoy.” the end piece I am trying to attain, but I can only attain it by allowing each stage of the process to be influenced as it goes along. 9. How would you describe you work to a non - sighted person? Not in words - I am not gifted that way. But I have laid many a piece into the hands of a non-sighted person. They always understand the work better than most, seeing the
Yes. Andre Gide said, “Pay attention
Fired Porcelain is “one of hardest substances known to man” to the form only. Emotion will come spontaneously. A perfect dwelling always finds and inhabitant.” So, I try to create perfect dwellings 11. What are your goals for your work in the next few years? I imagine I will keep trying to push the limits of the porcelain. Carve more away. Discover new patterns. I have been throwing some larger vessels out of stoneware. I want to continue my exploration of the interaction of scales, from miniature to floor vases. Certainly the possibilities are endless.
Articulated Tsunami Vessel 11
Jennifer throwing porcelain
EDUCATION 1978 - B.F.A. with honors, Michigan State University, studied under Louis Raynor 1980 - Graduate study, Florida Atlantic University, studied under John McCoy
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 2008, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Rococo Exhibit New York, NY 2007-2008 Smithsonian Craft Show, 12
Washington DC 2009, Fragiles: Porcelain, Glass & Ceramics, Kuwait 2006-2010, Palm Beach Fine Craft Show, West Palm Beach, FL 2005, 2007-2010, American Craft Exposition, Evanston, IL 2004-2010, American Craft Council Show, Baltimore, MD 2010, American Craft Council Show, Atlanta, GA 2001, 2008-2010 Craft Forms, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA 2006-2010, Washington Craft Show,
Washington DC 2006-2008, 2010 Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. Philadelphia, PA 2008-2010, Long’s Park Art Festival, Lancaster, PA 2009-2010, St. Louis Art Festival, St. Louis, MO 2007-2010, Old Town Art Festival, Chicago, IL 2008-2009, Riverspan Sculpture Exhibition, Cincinnati, OH 2006-2009, Westchester Craft Show, White Plains, NY
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motion fills me when I see perfect forms in nature, from the cracked conch shell on the beach revealing its perfect spiral, to the milkweed pod burst in the
“Emotion fills me when I see perfect forms in nature” field, its brilliant airborne seeds streaming into the sunlight. The ordered symmetry and asymmetry of nature’s forms reveal the growth of life, the movement of life. Living on Martha’s Vineyard, island time, especially in the winter, seems to conform to nature’s cycles. As a potter, I strive to make my work reflect the balance of life around me. It is important that the patterns I see around me are integrated into my forms. I use a translucent porcelain body because it has a beautiful surface, and it conveys the qualities of light and shadow that I wish to express. After throwing my vessel on the potter’s wheel, I alter
2005, 2007-2008, Crafts Boston, Boston, MA 2006-2007, Cherry Creek Art Festival, Denver CO 2007, Fuller Craft Museum, Member Exhibition, Brockton, MA 2006, Des Moines Art Festival, Des Moines, IA 2006-2007, Lakefront Festival of Arts, Milwaukee, IL 2006, Crafts National 2006, Lancaster Museum, Lancaster, PA 2005, Crafts at the Castle, Boston, MA 2004, Particles and Passion, the Art of Clay, Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD 2004, Arts Festival at Rockefeller Center, NYC, New York 2003-2004, Boca Raton Museum Art Festival, Boca Raton, FL 2001-2004, Winter Park Arts Festival, Winter Park, FL 1993-2004, Coconut Grove Art Festival, Miami, FL 1990-1995, 2001-2002, Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, Tampa, FL 1992-1995, Disney’s Festival of the
the form to set up a movement of soft shadow. When the porcelain is leather hard, I carve patterns to add energy and counterpoint. I fire my work to cone 10, where the porcelain becomes non-porous and translucent. Some of the finished pieces hold elusive glimpses of the balance between the convex and the concave, and light absorbed and reflected. In further exploration, I marry the fine porcelain with the ancient art of gilding. The 23 carat gold leaf illumines the interior of the vessel, to reveal new curves and patterns. Jennifer porcelain One of the benefits of working at a pottery teaching studio - besides the free studio space, kiln firings, and glazes — is that I get to attend their workshops at no cost. I have been looking forward to a workshop on altered porcelain vessels with Jennifer McCurdy for two months now, and it did not disappoint. For those not familiar with all the fascinating details of ceramic materials science, porcelain is a type of high-fired clay body made primarily of kaolin. Kaolin is a pure white clay made up of much smaller clay particles than your average earthenware/stoneware. When fired to
~2400F, the porcelain clay body begins to melt, forming a beautiful translucent material. I had never really used porcelain before, and it was actually a lot easier to throw with than I though it would be. Jennifer taught us a technique of throwing with very little water that allowed us to make very large forms. On the second day of the workshop she walked us through her process of carving and finishing the forms. Let me tell you, this woman has patience!
“ Well, I tried, and halfmade two very neat pots before they broke into a million pieces.” She told us that the average pot takes her around seven hours to complete. So although I learned a lot, I could just not slow down enough to do these kind of detailed design. Well, I tried, and halfmade two very neat pots before they broke into a million pieces.
Masters, Orlando, FL
TEACHING EXPERIENCE 2008-2010, Select Workshops 1995-2003, Instructor, Featherstone Meetinghouse, Oak Bluffs, MA 1993-2004, Participating Artist, Coconut Grove Visiting Artists Program, Miami, FL 1998-2002, Artist in Residence, Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School 1995-1999, Instructor, Chilmark Pottery, Chilmark, MA
View our featured ceramic artists list (posts). Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and like our Facebook page if you want to stay in touch with us. Jennifer MCCurdy American Treasure Master of Thrown, Carved and Pierced Porcelain
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS - American Crafts Council - Featherstone Meetinghouse of the Arts - National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts - Massachusetts Cultural Council, 2007 Finalist - Potter’s Council Visit Jennifer McCurdy’s website. 13
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What is Raku? Raku is losely translated as Happiness through Chance
The ancient art of Raku dates back to 16th century Japan, predominately centered around the Tea Ceremony
In the contemporary Raku process arbitrary metallic flashes, lusters and smoke defined crackles in the glazes are the result of a post-firing reduction. The ware is fired to 1850 -1900 degrees (F) before being removed from the kiln, placed in an organic combustible like sawdust or dry leaves while the glaze is
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“still molten and covered tightly to produce an oxygen starved (reduction) atmosphere. Typically a rapid cooling of the vessel follows by placing it in a water filled container.”
aku is traditionally characterized by being hand shaped rather than thrown; fairly porous vessels, which result from low firing temperatures; lead glazes; and the removal of pieces from the kiln while still glowing hot.
Horse Hair Raku Vessel
Raku tea bowls
In the traditional Japanese process, the fired raku piece is removed from the hot kiln and is allowed to cool in the open air.. Raku techniques have been modified by contemporary potters worldwide.
As the popularity of RAKU spreads, more and more Potters use their back yard as an experimental lab, resulting in some of the most beautiful results.
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Inspiration is everywhere
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Hand bui
g new technique
The biggest part about handbuilding and sculpting is really just getting inspired and finding your creative way. Claire takes a look at what inspires different artists and provides suggestions to get you moving on your way. By exploring a variety of techniques—drawing, painting, digital tools, sketchbooks, photography, models and maquettes—you’re sure to experience some unexpected discoveries that will make it difficult to leave the studio. Handbuilding with clay offers a unique opportunity to experiment, requires few tools, and allows your intuition and imagination to come to the fore. In this overview of the most popular of ceramic forming methods, artist Claire Loder explains the timehonored methods of handbuilding, as well as introducing a fascinating array of new approaches of contemporary ceramicists. Ceramics are always popular with crafters, and hand building with lowfire earthenware is a natural place to start. With its wealth of information and images, elegant design, and time-tested advice this beautiful new
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book by artist Shay Amber will inspire even the most intimidated beginner. Just as in her celebrated workshops, Amber guides would-be ceramists through all the basics, from selecting the right clay body to embellishing the surface with fabulous decorations and gorgeous glaze treatments to setting a firing temperature. She teaches how to pinch forms, create coils, make flat slabs, work with simple molds and armatures, and ornament your piece with stencils, slips, underglazes, terra sigillata, and more. Each technique is laid out in easyto-follow step-by-step photos with projects in progress and stunning gallery images. Amber introduces a unique, easy-to-follow method for constructing a beautiful slab-built piece, and all the necessary templates are included. A dozen projects—including a pinched Tea Bowl, coil-built Espresso Cup Set, and luminous Lantern showcase the key methods. Comprehensive and accessible, this illustrated introduction will become the standard on the potter’s bookshelf.
Full Size Sculpture
Miniature Sculpture
Extra large size Beth Cavener Stichter
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