When one thinks of pottery, the typical visual is chunky, sturdy, utilitarian pieces featuring colored glazing. That image is not at all what you will find in the work of artist Jennifer McCurdy, who has created a new collection of unglazed white porcelain work, currently on display at the Louisa Gould Gallery.
Each sculptural piece is a marvel of form and design, featuring elaborate curves, intricate carved designs, and in some cases, complex tendril-like forms reaching skyward. If there’s a familiar sense to the translucent porcelain pieces with interior gilding, it’s no surprise. McCurdy finds inspiration in the forms found in nature. While not replicas of any specific specimen of flora or fauna, the artist’s work clearly shows a fascination with organic forms.
In her artist’s statement, McCurdy writes, “Emotion fills me when I see perfect forms in nature, from the cracked conch shell on the beach revealing its perfect spiral, to the milkweed pod burst in the field, its brilliant airborne seeds streaming into the sunlight. The ordered symmetry and asymmetry of nature’s forms reveal the growth of life, the movement of life.”
The current collection at Louisa Gould Gallery includes pieces from a series titled “Sea Forms,” along with other works created throughout the artist’s lengthy career.
“The pieces are breathing,” is how McCurdy describes the emotional impact of her work, and it’s easy to see what she means. The work truly captures the swaying, undulating nature of life beneath the ocean surface.
Among the “Sea Forms” pieces is a horizontal sculpture called “Kelp Bowl” that features a wonderful curvilinear flow, carved sections, and delicate frond-like structures. For this piece, McCurdy also added a new technique called “slip trailing,” which involves using thinned porcelain in a squeeze bottle to add raised dots and other details. The process is similar to that used in cake decorating, and adds a layer of detail and texture.
A piece titled “Gilded Coral Vessel” emulates the beauty and intricacy of its subject, with curved lines that seem to flow with life, and multiple carvings that capture the delicate branching, plantlike nature of the marine invertebrate.
Other pieces represent voluptuous blooming flowers, sea vegetation, and flames that, with gilding, burst with radiant intensity.
One of the most striking works on display, titled “Gilded Smoke Vessel,” is a tower-like structure built up from flattened strips that curve, twist, and turn to form a sculpture that, despite its complexity, has a surprisingly soothing quality.
“The gilding is another form of reflection,” says McCurdy. “I’m gathering a light source and emphasizing the interplay of the inside and the outside of the porcelain.” The gilding is done by McCurdy’s husband, a professional gilder, who works with 24-karat gold and utilizes a very traditional process.
Some of the pieces, like the “Kelp Bowl,” and one titled “Nautilus Vessel,” were intentionally engineered in a horizontal fashion in order to provide a lower center of gravity, and more stability. Because these are less prone to accidents than the more vertical pieces, gallery owner Louisa Gould has been able to display them on low pedestals in the front of the gallery, making for an enticing welcome to the exhibit.
Although McCurdy remarks that the goal is to make the work appear “freeform” and “effortless,” the process is anything but. It takes her a month or more to complete what is a painstaking, multi-layered piece, calling for skills in physics and engineering as well as exceptional artistic talent.
Each sculptural work requires dual firings, careful, extensive manipulation to render the complex curves and flow of the piece, and a carving stage that despite the exacting, intricate nature of the work, must be done quickly before the porcelain can dry.
McCurdy has been recognized globally for her work. She has won multiple awards, been featured in numerous publications, and shown work in dozens of galleries and institutions across the country, including the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.
McCurdy lives in Vineyard Haven, where she has a studio that resembles a laboratory with all of the state-of-the-art kilns and other equipment. On the Island she has found the perfect place to observe, find inspiration, and create.
“Living on Martha’s Vineyard, Island time, especially in the winter, seems to conform to nature’s cycles,” she writes. “As a potter, I strive to make my work reflect the balance of life around me. It is important that the patterns I see around me are integrated into my forms.”
Jennifer McCurdy, “Tales in Porcelain,” will be on display at the Louisa Gould Gallery, 54 Main St., Vineyard Haven, through Sept. 2. McCurdy is one of the artists represented year-round by the gallery, with examples of her work always on view.
