Introductions… 

Jim Kelleher is a ceramic artist and educator, producing a range of thrown decorative vessels and figurative sculptures

Of Things After Nature

The current direction of the work is an natural expansion on the previous Waterbowls. Forms are still highly influenced by exploration of asymmetry and the expression of energy from the making process. There is a stronger inclination to allow the clay as a material to lead the design process resulting in a more natural unbridled aesthetic. These pots are high fired stoneware with a mix of underglaze, slip, oxide wash and a fluid flambe glaze. The making process involves throwing on the wheel, cutting and forming and the use of clay in plastic, slip and even bone-dry state.

Waterbowls

A range of high-fired stoneware vessels fired in oxidation. These
pieces are thrown, altered and transformed on the potter’s wheel. I’m
particularly interested in forms that are developed with a visceral relationship with the clay making each piece unique within the range of a working language.

The pieces juxtapose traditional forms with decorative features influenced by asymmetry as a design element and that which occurs in rock and mineral formations. This is accentuated with fluid flambe glazes that flow over and pool across the surface features. There is an emphasis on accentuating the malleable nature of clay as a central aesthetic in the fired ceramic pieces.

Figurative Sculpture

My figurative work shows a pronounced theme of the dual nature of confidence and doubt in personal identity. The figures attempt to depict moments of duality between internal monologues and ungovernable external events of contemporary life. These pieces are an attempt to revel in our singularities and even defects. There is little room for idealism. They are depictions of the whimsical and sometimes melancholy dramatics at play in the psychological make-up of each character seen in moments.

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