Jennifer McCurdy’s luminescent porcelain vessels dance, breathe, and bloom. Whether they swirl, swell, or curl inward, the works are in constant motion, hitting us on a visceral level. Although vaselike, they break the bounds of being utilitarian and become singular sculptural works of art.
McCurdy has been drawn to clay since high school: “In 10th grade, I took a ceramics class, and just loved the wheel. The instructor had no idea how to use it, so she showed us a film. I started practicing, and it was so intriguing to me. Looking back, I wasn’t the most outgoing child, and I think I found my identity in clay. People were hard, clay was easy. It was exciting, and I was good at it. People made me nervous. By the time I graduated, I’d thrown a dinnerware set for my parents.”
McCurdy attended Michigan State University, where she earned her B.A. in fine arts with an emphasis on ceramics and graphic design in 1978: “My dad said, ‘You can’t make a living at pottery.’” So she studied industrial arts. It turns out her father was quite wrong, and McCurdy has forged a 45-plus-year career fueled by her passion for constantly reinventing the art form.
Early on, McCurdy fashioned functional vases, bowls, mugs, teapots, jars, and pitchers for practical use. However, she recalls, “Even though I was within the parameters of function, I loved making beautiful pieces, and the design aspect was very important.”
In terms of aesthetics, McCurdy was particularly drawn to the spherical shape, which has become the basis for all her current works, characterized by their flowing, fluid lines. To look at her pieces is to wonder how they are made. Portions seem to fly up and away from the base, or curl inward. Sometimes the sliced-away areas become negative spaces, creating intricate designs.
McCurdy begins by constructing the initial form on a wheel, pressing on either side of the mound of soft, wet clay to create the desired shape. Later, off the wheel, she can work the piece by pushing with her hands to make indentations that alter the vessel’s form.
Next, when the clay is firm enough to hold its shape but still moist enough to cut through, McCurdy uses an X-Acto knife to incise patterns into the vessel quickly. After the work dries further, it is sturdy enough for McCurdy to gently sand the surface to smooth it, and to sponge away any fine debris, as well as round any sharp edges. The piece is now ready for an initial low firing in the kiln, which will make it sturdier.
The second, high firing is when the magic happens. The form changes drastically in unexpected ways, flowing this way and that, influenced by whether the piece is fired right-side up or upside down, and how much of the vessel has been cut away. “I call it directional firing. People tell me I seem to have invented this.”
Light plays off McCurdy’s vessels, creating soft shadows and highlights along the porcelain’s twists and turns. Starting in about 2010, McCurdy began having her husband Tom, a master gilder, apply 24-karat gold leaf to the insides of some of her work, which creates a brilliant reflection and adds glistening color to the white clay.
Although abstract, the shapes echo those found in nature: leaves, coral, plant stems, blossoms, shells, waves, wings, and flames: “My forms often take after natural forms, but not from conceptual or visual intent … I work with nature in a deep way, in that my vessels depend on natural laws for their formation and their integrity … To give strength to the vessels, I incorporate elements that nature also uses. For instance, a blade of grass has a slight curve. If it grew up flat, it would fall over, so I will include the curve.”
Just as each of McCurdy’s works is unique, responding to her desire and the forces of nature, so too are our responses to them. “It is not narrative work,” McCurdy notes. “I put the curves in because they move one’s eye. There is a sense of flow and fluidity. Whether you look at a piece and gain a sense of calm or gain a sense of energy, you are looking at the same piece. I want you to feel what you need to. These are my children. They come out of the kiln, and they go off into the world, and however individuals respond to them, I’m out of the picture.”
For more about Jennifer McCurdy, visit jennifermccurdy.com, or the Louisa Gould Gallery, 54 Main St., Vineyard Haven.