Jordan McDonald: Utility and Contemplation

My work as an artist is focused on questions surrounding a pot’s dual role as an object of utility and contemplation. The history of ceramics is largely the story of a pot’s portability as it travels to new places and cultures. I am curious about the processes of reception the pot undergoes in this exchange. In order to communicate this potential of naturalization, I present pots as a kind of proposition. I display them in groups, in a space where one can view them as individual objects and as an integral part of a composition – much like a drawing.

Jordan McDonald is a current Artist-in-Residence at The Clay Studio.  He received hisBFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax Nova Scotia Canada, andhis MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred NY. 

McDonald’swork addresses the vessel as an object of utility and contemplation.  Heis interested in exploring how pottery can serve, beautify and function as art.This work both embraces and seeks freedom from finely honed ceramicproficiency.  Skillfully thrown and handbuilt vessels are altered, both in form and decoration, in ways that belie theinitial skillful construction.