Shellie Jacobson

Artist Statement

My work is about the organic and plastic vocabulary of clay; how it can be torn, folded, pinched, scored, imprinted, pierced, and textured as it is transformed into vessels. To add to the vocabulary, I incorporate accidental marks during the building process. I develop this vocabulary with hand building processes, mainly slabs, with the additional support of pinching and coiling. I see these slabs as sheets of paper that I can transform into vessel forms, such as bowls and cylinders.

I also work on modular wall pieces, most recently as canvas for monotype printmaking using ceramic materials. These prints become my journal, as places to record thoughts or reactions to the world outside my studio.  The text on some of these pages reflects my interest in ancient written language and the graphic of that text.

Inspiration for my vessels most often comes from nature. I like to study how nature enfolds, connects, textures, and weathers objects, both the organic and the man made. I also find a wealth of ideas from personal history, dream imagery, and ancient cultures, languages and their history.

For the past several years I have also been creating artists books. It is really not that far from what I do with slabs of clay. The materials of book arts, paper, cloth, and board, can also be torn, folded, textured and layered. Each medium informs the other.  Inspiration for my book arts comes from reactions to a poem I have read, personal history and of course life experiences. Each book emerges with its own format, a kind of collaboration, usually driven by the imagery.