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Similar to the way a musical composer uses notes, melodies, arrangements and instruments to portray emotion and circumstance, I use my materials and processes to speak my language. Clay, glaze and fire are the score. The utilitarian ceramic vessel is the performance. I wish for those who use my pots to experience the vastness of clay itself and the wonder and beauty of the materials touched by flame. This composition of clay, that has no literal interpretation, may hopefully be translated from soft clay to finished pot and be understood when it is seen, touched, used and appreciated. Inspiration for my pots regularly comes from what I experience in nature and in my own psyche and body in which it dwells. Usually these sources express themselves in movement - such as warm, swirling wind flowing through trees and tall grass, the intake and release of a slow, deep breath, or the wondrous slow-motion image of a drop of water falling into a still pool, rising up, and falling once again. Inspiration for my pots and surfaces also comes from human experiences and emotions which my pots can better describe than my words. Some of these that I hope are seen and felt in my works are love and amazement, and that mounting feeling we unmistakably get ascending the first hill on a roller coaster in preparation for racing down the other side. Through these we understand that we are at the cusp of experiencing something much more than we can perceive at the moment. My pots are studies of materials, form and surface - explorations of two and three-dimensional space, clay and glaze materials, and firing processes. Because of the utilitarian nature of my work I imagine that my pots are best understood by using them. A well-designed and beautifully constructed pot can impart a visual impact while sitting on a pedestal, but it is only by using the piece again and again that one can begin to understand the intended meaning of the pot. Follow the lines of the pot with your eye and you may find inspiration and wonder, but, drink or pour from it and the form becomes a physical extension of the body. Our hands can yield an understanding that our eyes cannot. The visual gives way to essence of the work. Joe Davis |
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