Jennifer Cunningham

 Jennifer Cunningham

Mixed media, paint on canvas.


Jennifer's work brings life to places abandoned a long time ago. Her work is extremely playful and expressive. 
Her paintings show nature reclaiming what originally belonged to it, grass and trees grow where concrete once lay.  Mechanisms that once preformed for their audience now stand still, seized by rust and merged with the organic.

I really enjoyed looking at Jennifer's work. Paint is something I don't explore myself, but her work is very expressionate .

Artist Statement

This isn't a world to grow up in

An estimated 250,000 children are currently used as child soldiers, 40% of which are girls.

Through the theme of War and the issues that surround the use of child soldiers my aim is to tell a narrative about the comparison between two lives. One of the children growing up within a war, conscripted to fight for reasons they do not know or understand and two, of a child (Me) growing up in what could be described as a warzone. Constantly exposed to crime, drugs and violence.



The walls that protected me as a child now become the canvas on which my narrative can be formed, a story pieced together, brick by brick.

Nan Smith

Nan Smith

Earthenware, Slip cast.

 The figurative likeness of the work is astonishing. 

• The temporal quality of human existence is an
  underlying theme implicit in the choice of clay as a sculptural
  material.
• The sculptures frame time and memory within a vignette; the salient moment conveyed through subtle gesture; the tilt of the head, repose in facial expression or reaching hand.
• The sculptures are intimate and contemplative;
  they picture memory and indicate a sense of its timelessness. 
   
  Sticking with the figure I think that Hubert may be able to gain some information from this work.
   
   
   

McKenzie Smith

McKenzie Smith, Ceramic, Soda/Salt firing.


The quality of the finish is fantastic, through looking at this work it has sparked an interest in the process of salt/soda firing. Hand thrown pottery and colorful glazes have been merged to create a very clean finish.

• The element of chance.
• Natural beauty of clay and fire.
• I am hoping that these elements in combination produce ware that has a warm essence and gives
  pleasure in use.
   
   
   The process of producing ceramics is sometimes left up to chance, we cannot always control it. 
   
  I am not sure who could benefit from looking at this artist, but I think everyone should just to see an example of Soda/Salt firing.

David Smith

David Smith

Ceramics, Wood-Fired in a Kegonsa Anagama.

The finish on the work is spectacular, I am immediately reminded of Claire Curneen and her figurative work. The wood firing really adds a unique finish to the work.

• I am interested in producing pots that embody the natural beauty and quiet restraint.
• tenuous balance between humans and the environment.

• vessels and sculpture serve as canvases for the rich textural qualities.      

The Work has a wonderful finish which reflects the long process that it took to create it.
Looking through this work I think that Danielle and Gillian would be able to take something from this artist.                                  

Jeffrey Sincich

Jeffrey Sincich

Mixed media pieces. Uses Ceramics, latex, steel and paint.

I find the work very striking, the figures almost seem alien.  The vibrant cartoonish finish to the work adds a touch of playfulness. Through a collective of pieces the artists creates a colorful story.

• Each reincarnation of these traditions takes on a new life.

• The role that the hand plays in keeping tradition alive is a common thread
  in relaying this
  information from generation to generation.

•  Smaller than life, quilted, ceramic figures and animals, reclaimed wood structures, found objects and projected images.

I enjoyed looking at this work, I have an interest in the figure so I may use this as reference in future work, I think that Hubert may be able to take something from this due to the use of the figure.

Grace Sheese

Grace Sheese

• "My life in the pottery studio is quiet and measured, unhurried, and dictated by the rhythm of the clay." 

• "feels like a relic of a bygone age – a horse draw carriage on a super highway." 

• "Using handmade pottery in the modern world is both special and ordinary." 

Grace's work has an almost surreal feel to it, her work is extremely playful which leads me to recommend that Emma King would take a look at this artist.

Even in the twenty first centuary where technology is more advanced than it has ever been, we still turn to the past when producing work as ceramic artists.