Jim Whitman

Resilience No. 7

11.875 x 7.625 x 6.5"

White Stoneware with Cobalt Oxide

$175

“Resilience No. 7” explores transformation in the wake of violence. A fiber brush, dipped in cobalt oxide, was used to assault the vessel upside-down while the clay was still soft. Approaching the clay's breaking point, the mark left behind remains raw while the interior is glazed to ensure the vase is watertight.

Artist's Statement:

Oscar Wilde once said works of art are as useless as flowers, good for just a fleeting moment of joy.  If he's right, then the pursuit of uselessness in useful ceramic ware, i.e., making something that can both serve a function and serve as an object of beauty in its own right, is what motivates me as a potter. Indeed, I most enjoy making unusual vases, and because their only purpose is to hold “useless” flowers, I happily admit that most of my work is doubly useless—with the hope that each piece gives twice the amount of joy.

By twisting, folding, poking, prodding, and sometimes violently assaulting the clay, I try to capture its endless flexibility while also blurring the boundary between art and utility. Rather than seek perfect symmetry, I purposely distort my pieces, set them off-center, or juxtapose incongruent elements. With minimal use of color and glazes, my pottery celebrates the honesty and immediacy of raw, unglazed surfaces, which create a tactile bridge from me to you. I embrace, and try to encourage, the unpredictability of clay, as the space between intention and chance most often holds those moments of joy.