In searching for informative and inspirational sherds to share with you, I’m always astounded by just how much information there is at our fingertips. More so, I am always reminded just how generous potters/ceramists can be in sharing their hard-earned knowledge with the rest of us. Jennifer McCurdy is exemplary of this spirit: not only does she lend insight into her process and product, but she shapes our thinking around what is possible on the potter’s wheel:
In examining McCurdy’s work, I am reminded that the wheel is something of a bridge rather than a dead end. How often have I wired a piece off the bat and thought, “I’m done,” and gone on to make another, and another piece. The wheel, especially when read metaphorically, gets us from one place to another with great efficiency.
In the case of McCurdy, when the wheel stops spinning, her hands continue to search out and influence the form. Hers is largely a subtractive process: one of removing planes and mass to reveal the wild within: capillaries, thorns, roots, spikes, ribs, atoms, circulation, convection, force, and repose.
You’ll hear McCurdy mention “plasticity” a number of times when referring to the clay’s ability to respond to touch and pressure. At multiple stages of the clay’s evaporation process exist opportunities that she seizes upon to influence and follow the shape in different ways. She even capitalizes on the clay’s tendency to shift and slump during the firing as her final chance to exploit the medium’s malleability.
If you don’t have time to watch the video, do give her website a visit.
One more thought. Some of you may be familiar with the terms “positive space” and “negative space.” In short, positive space refers to the space that objects occupy; negative space refers to the inverse, namely the holes, indentions, hollows, and pass-throughs of an object.
McCurdy’s work is a celebration of those diametrically interdependent forces.
Where there is absence of form, form is defined.
Auguste Elder
Think about that the next time you work on a vessel or plate/platter, and remember that your work is as much about what you have removed as it is about what remains. Music, text, theater, health, relationships…all follow this principle of presence through absence, absence through presence.