Jason Bohnert, Flagstaff, Arizona
Jason recently moved to Arizona from West Virginia. He's currently firing in a rebuilt wood/gas/soda kiln. Here are his thoughts, "the exploration of form and surface within the tradition of functional pottery continue to inspire my ceramic art. My experiences in nature and my travels have given me endless inspiration. Most significantly, my travels and studies throughout China, Jingdezhen and Yixing in particular, have informed my subject matter. Tea service and the ritual vessels of the Chinese tea ceremony, dating back 500 years to the Ming Dynasty, have captured my thoughts and given direction to my recent work. The intimacy and power of sharing tea and the vessels used to store tea, brew tea, and drink tea challenge me to create beautiful, delicate, and lasting forms. The intimacy of holding a cup to one’s lips and the relationship that develops with a special teapot over years of use and care are significant to me. A successful pot to me is one that lasts over time and reveals itself slowly and continually with every use or visit.
"While the miniature scale, intimacy, and balance of the teapot challenge me in one direction, I also enjoy working on a larger scale. Making decorative urns and jars, often inspired by early Tang and Song Dynasty clay and Shang Dynasty bronzes, I will repeat the forms and designs of my smaller, more intimate work on a grand scale. I manipulate scale and proportion to attain gesture and impact within a piece. Though my work represents a strong wheel throwing foundation, as well as many techniques of altering thrown forms, handbuilding with both hard and soft slabs is also part of my regular vocabulary of form and technique, much of which was learned from working with Yixing teapot masters.
"In my glaze surfaces I am inspired by the rhythms, tones, and textures found in the natural environment. . I enjoy brushwork with slips and blue underglaze, contrasting brightly ornamented calligraphy inspired painting with the bare wood-fired claybody. Layered slips, glazes, and overglazes, as well as actual textured surfaces in the clay, create landscapes and references to lichen, gourds, flower buds, rocks and streams. Using color and design in a contemporary abstraction of these natural elements, I attempt to bring a bit of the natural world into the homes of the users of my pots. These rich and subtle layers of surface are achieved through the handling of the material itself and are enhanced by atmospheric wood and soda firings. I hope to achieve a lasting sense of discovery and uniqueness in each piece.
For more information on Jason Bohnert's work, including what we might have in stock, please email or call us at 1-877-439-6554.
jason bohnert
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