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Animate On Scroll.
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Animate On Scroll.
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Animate On Scroll.
Love. Japan.
Animate On Scroll.
“My love for Japanese pottery is born out of my own natural inclinations. I love natural materials, and the mad scientist in me sometimes just wants to see what will happen with those materials, so I’m constantly experimenting. I love the idea of transmuting these base materials into a different kind of gold. It just so happens that the Japanese aesthetic accommodates my approach to clay, and it’s a fun coincidence that I was born in Japan.”
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Animate On Scroll.
“I use stones I pick up while I’m out in the woods. It gives me a way to bring my time in the woods into the studio in a very direct way. I want something that looks like it’s ancient, like it’s been dug up from somewhere and has a landscape of estranged history.” |
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Animate On Scroll.
“When I discovered Japanese ceramics, I sensed my work up to that point was similar to an orphan raised in the woods who had suddenly stumbled upon a place which felt like it always should’ve been home. It changed everything as my pottery work found both home and purpose. “
“Mizusashi, or water jars, hold a fascination over me. There’s something fun and mysterious about a form that exists for the sheer purpose of holding hot water. I think of the little hot springs from some of my hikes in Washington state where water bubbles up from the rocks or where water pools inside tree stumps.” |
“I love making hanaire, or flower vases, because there is so much sculptural freedom to be had. On one hand I feel it’s important that the vase can feel complete on its own, but on the other it’s also just as important that its presence doesn’t outshine the flowers it’s meant to present. There’s a harmony that must be achieved and it’s a challenging one because you have to imagine what flowers might be put into the hanaire.”
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Animate On Scroll.
“One of my favorite glazes is a white oni-hagi glaze. For me, it’s the froth of the ocean crashing upon a rocky shore, the snow upon boulders or mountains above the treeline. All these landscapes are some of my favorite places in Washington state.”
“My seal for pottery is different from how I sign my sculpture work. Having adopted the Japanese pottery tradition as part of my own I wanted a seal that reflected this. There is a Japanese story called “The Grasshopper & The Bell Cricket” where the girl in the story is given a grasshopper but discovers that it’s a bell cricket, which is far more special. Growing up I was also nicknamed “Cricket” because of my last name. So, the kanji I use in my seal are “Grasshopper & Bell Cricket”. I like to think that amongst all the “grasshopper pots” I make, that someone will come upon a “bell cricket” to make their own.” |
Animate On Scroll.
“I love the challenges I find in Japanese ceramics, whether it’s pursuing a type of glaze or clay body, or a certain form.” “For me oribe greens convey evergreen forests, while a range of celadons take me to vivid alpine lakes.” “When making hanaire I cannot help but think of the forms I love to find in tree trunks or where ferns nestle themselves in gnarled branches. Even flowers that manage to root in the crevices of rocks.” |
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© 2022 JK Crockett. All rights reserved.
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