Woodfire Ceramics: James Kasper

Hudson Rivery Gallery, Iowa City IA
January 11 – February 9, 2008

 

“If you can't make it good, make it big. If you can't make it big, make it shiny.” - Anon.

In this age of flippant answers about the motivations and intentions given by individual artists I am tempted to simply say that I made it big and stopped there. But in fact this is part of the trajectory begun with work that was discussed for, and part of, the show, “The Ritual Vessel: Science, Nature, Gods”, held in early 2007 (full text).

Quoting from the statement I wrote for that show:

“Since I began my professional pottery career most of my work has been a celebration of the explicitly individual— stylized human heads—and the implicitly individual—small scale works.

“In this new body of work I am looking at the collective through scale and artistic intent.

“So I have chosen to work with vessels in the larger scale of the collective, but with direct links to the individual in use – bowls and platters that have a volume for serving many, vases that in scale and weight are more suited for semi-fixed locations and viewing from a distance by a group of people.”

The major pieces in this current show are the jars. The “Egg/Eggplant Jars” are my interpretation of ossuaria. The form was taken from eggs, eggplants, and a drop of water just before falling—animal, vegetable and mineral. They are hand-built upside down on purpose-built, self-created molds. One mold is made of bisqued clay and shows throwing marks. The rough surface of the second mold results from pouring slightly dry mixed concrete over the model. The dry mix prevents the concrete from flowing smoothly over the model. Wads of clay are beat onto the mold, with the neck being formed from clay that is driven over the lip of a hole in the center of the mold. By not pressing the clay too hard, visible seams remain between the individual wads of clay. The body of the jar is made by pinching a handful of clay to the shoulder in a series of “spot welds”. The very rough surface is then paddled (lightly for more texture and heavily for a smoother surface) which aids in crimp-locking the pieces together. This construction falls between slab building and coil building. The shoulder of the jar is made fairly stout so that the jar can be fired upside-down on three posts, hence any glaze runs head toward the neck.

The “Cone Jars” are made from wads of clay pressed into a two part mold. This mold is made as above from dry mixed concrete. Thus the jar shows both the industrial exterior surface as well as the organic hand marked interior surface. The form was inspired by a plumb bob, the steradian (the unit for a solid angle of a sphere), and a formal study of the mixing of simple geometric solids. The only “function” I envisioned while working on the form was that of an early Bingo mixer. From the outset this style jar was meant to be displayed on its side.

The “Fountains” are my response to Irish round towers and the fortress of Isengard from “The Lord of the Rings”.

The “Wall Tiles” are part of my ongoing consideration of the landscape of Iceland, which has had a profound impact upon me.

In all of these works natural occurring imperfections, as well as construction marks and injuries sustained by the piece during loading and firing, are allowed to remain and do not necessarily lead to the destruction of any given piece. I view the presence of such “defects”, as well as the loose glazing and construction, as a story about aging. It would be difficult to tell such a story for an individual without the scars that life entails, and the same for these pots. Of course, as with a person such injuries can be too much, and pots that cross this nebulous line are buried in the waster pile.

I close with another quote from the earlier mentioned statement:

“I don’t claim that all, or any, of this will make an impression on any given viewer. And I don’t even desire that it does so. I am quite contented, if, like a rainbow, it can be enjoyed simply as “eye candy”. But each vessel can also sit waiting for those whose contact with science, religion or personal reflection opens its viewing to the deeper satisfaction that comes from contemplation of the unanswerable questions. It is in these questions that our response to the world around us is formulated.”

Thank you for coming out to experience my newest work!

jek