Past Exhibition

Hands in Clay

Works by the Students of Jill Meltzer

April 3–25, 2014

Artist Statement

My primary interest in ceramics has always been  functional ware with a decided bent towards the decorative.  With function as its primary touchstone, my work is made to be handled and regarded.  I like this sort of connection between art and utility. I don’t consider the parameters of functionality to be limiting; nor do I believe that being suited for a purpose requires my work to be overly predictable or ordinary.  Rather, harmonizing the demands of utility with those of imparting some measure of magic to everyday things, is a challenge I find inspiring.  As I work on a piece, then, I aim to infuse an extra dimension that delights the user’s senses and illuminates what otherwise might have been a mundane moment.

My work is made loosely to belie the stone-like quality of fired ceramic.  I alter and embellish both wheel thrown and hand built pieces and have little concern with exactness or symmetry.  My primary source of inspiration is the decorative arts where enchanting the eye with extravagance and excess is paramount and the principle of “less is more” is delightfully ignored.