Jennifer McCurdy Harnesses an Island’s Pure Rhythms in Fascinating Porcelain Vessels — Colossal



Artwork
Craft

#ceramics
#gold
#Jennifer McCurdy
#nature
#ocean
#porcelain
#shells

“Gilded Wind Vessel,” porcelain, 12 x 12 x 10 inches. All photos © Jennifer McCurdy, shared with permission. Pictures by Gary Mirando

The pure patterns of turning tides and altering seasons illuminate the fragile porcelain sculptures of Martha’s Winery-based artist Jennifer McCurdy. Responding to the shifts of island life—and “island time”—she attracts inspiration from the encircling setting and natural types, like  “the cracked conch shell on the seaside revealing its good spiral to the milkweed pod burst within the discipline, its good airborne seeds streaming into the daylight,” she explains in a statement. Her wheel-thrown porcelain vessels seize each refined and dramatic shifts in gentle and shadow, mimicking waves, gales, smoke, and flames.

In 2020, when, like many, McCurdy was obliged to decelerate and strategy her studio observe below the constraints of canceled exhibitions, she seized the chance to re-evaluate her personal work, telling Colossal that “as soon as my panic receded, I settled into the mindset of the sabbatical, exploring new types and testing totally different carving patterns within the porcelain for optimum motion within the firing.” She broadened the questions she requested of her course of and the affect it took from nature, corresponding to how the rocks and shoreline met the encircling sea or whether or not she might generate the vitality of fixed motion in her sculptures. “I believe the route of my work didn’t change, but it surely gained readability from specializing in the house between and round every type,” she says.

McCurdy makes use of a translucent porcelain that she first shapes on a potter’s wheel after which manipulates, slices, or molds to create a way of movement, typically with a swirling or spiraling impact. A collection of “sample research” spotlight dynamic cuts that reach and droop with the help of gravity when fired upside-down in a kiln heated to cone ten—or 2,350 levels Fahrenheit. With the addition of gold or platinum leaf on the inside, which is utilized by the artist’s long-time collaborator, former signal painter, and husband Tom McCurdy, the vessels replicate gentle and evoke heat, as if shaped round a warmth supply

McCurdy’s work will likely be on show in Florida at Art Wynwood and The Palm Beach Show with Steidel Fine Art from February 16 to 19. In Might, she can even exhibit within the Smithsonian Craft + Design Show in Washington, D.C. Discover extra on her website and Instagram.

“Gilded Chrysalis Vessel,” porcelain and gold leaf, 16 x 11 x 10 inches

“Ripple Vessel,” porcelain, 13 x 10 x 10 inches

“Smoke Vessel Household,” porcelain, between 4 and 21 inches tall

“Gilded Halo Vessel,” porcelain, pure gold leaf, and palladium leaf, 16 x 11 x 10 inches

“Dawn Vessel,” porcelain, 18 x 10 x 10 inches

“Pair of Gilded Fireplace Vessels,” porcelain and gold leaf, 16 x 10 x 10 inches

Overview of “Gilded Lotus Nest,” porcelain, gold leaf, and platinum leaf, 8 x 16 x 16 inches

“Gilded Lotus Nest,” porcelain, gold leaf, and platinum leaf, 8 x 16 x 16 inches

#ceramics
#gold
#Jennifer McCurdy
#nature
#ocean
#porcelain
#shells

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