Artist Details

Jesi Jones

Member Since 2016

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If I had to choose one thing that I continuously return to, it would be the art of ceramics. Growing up in Woodland Park, CO, I have always felt a close affinity with nature. A drive down a canyon with the wind coming through the trees and rolling around in my hair made me feel fortunate to be alive. Or finally climbing to the top of a craig and turning around to view the creek racing down the valley below brought me to a serene state of mind that I would consider is how people with faith feel in the presence of God.

With the local landscape, I have a harmonious passion in using the earth as my material to create art – both buttery smooth clay or the vibrant colorants to use in mixing glazes. As a child, the pleasure of making mud cakes cascaded into a love of wheel throwing fluid clay into functional shapes. Any weather, any day is a perfect opportunity to practice this craft. While it’s snowing outside and the skies are rosy, I’m madly cooperating with a part of mother nature. All of my stress is immediately depleted, and I’m feeling out all the crooks and crannies of my clay body. Every wrinkle is smoothed out and the slip falls into the bowl below. A deeper understanding of how the earth interacts with the basic element of water is attained.

Throughout the years, I have learned to make every type of functional vessel out of clay, from vases and cisterns to planters or even simple mugs. There is something soothing in the ancient process of producing functional and artistic ceramic objects. I feel connected not only to the earth, but also to an artisanal tradition that I attempt to carry forth into the modern world with fellow contemporary potters.

It is a simple joy of to see a family member drink their morning coffee out of their beloved mug. How beautiful it is that I have touched someone’s life by something that my hands have made in a blissful state of mind?