Jon Blackburn

         Ceramic artist

 

 

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   I have forever been fascinated by our

natural world and the infinite detail

found in it. My work reflects these colors,

textures and forms and how over time

we have tried to relate to the beauty that

surrounds us all.

  What is my place in the universe? How can I connect to the past? Haunting questions to be sure. Symbols and visual interpretations have always been the way we relate, either in story, pictures or language. We strive to relate to what we see and feel.

  How can I bring these vessel forms into a visual interpretation of the environment around me? I use a build up of thrown and hand built pieces along with layers of slips and glazes and with the atmosphere of the kiln, create work with a sense of age, a sort of sacred vessel.

  My current work started from a direct reaction to the death of my father years ago. I made a series of vessels to honor not only him but to create some temples to people and knowledge that is lost. These developed into larger more sophisticated forms and techniques. I added locks and fasteners to the vessels to represent an importance to what may be contained in the vessel, whether real or imagined.

  My process allows an abundance of chance to the work, an element of surprise that is an important creative part of the whole. Without these surprises the work could become stifled and robotic, without life. The work is done in series, ideas are formed and the process is put into play, throwing, altering, adding slips and glazes in a flurry of activity.

     The fire, the final word on the work, always has the last say.