| Jennifer McCurdy |  |
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About
Jennifer McCurdy Philosophy  Andre Gide says, “Pay attention to the form only. Emotion will come spontaneously. A perfect dwelling always finds an inhabitant.”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 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 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, and one of the hardest surfaces known to man. I use white stoneware to explore larger forms. I fire the pieces to cone 10 after glazing them with microcrystalline glazes. I call these forms my warrior vessels because they take a lot of energy, and I hope they express it back. Resume Education Select Galleries Select Exhibitions
Teaching Experience Professional Affiliations Collections Interview Artist's Interview LaFontsee Gallery - November, 2005 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 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, 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. 4. What artists influenced you the most? Current influences? 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 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. 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? I don't know. I guess I think that that is their responsibility. 8. Do you have predetermined ideas of what your finished work will be like, or do the ideas emerge in process? 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 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 curve and line, the edge and volume, with their touch. 10. Do you have a favorite saying? Yes. Andre Gide said, "Pay attention 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. |
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