Artist Statement

Jacob Sandstrom

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Artist Statement

I see my work as an opportunity to initiate conversation. By choosing to place images on vessels, I create a dialogue of material and process that parallels the discussions I hope to find with my audience. As a drawer, I am confident in my technical ability to render a beautiful image. As a potter I find joy and excitement in the craft and construction of an interactive object. By gathering the information ingrained in each craft, each part of my process informs the next.

My vessels are constructed using thick heavy coils of course red terra cotta. The use of heavy coils allows me to be physically involved in the manifestation of the object. The physical characteristics of and working constraints of the clay bring an inherent process rich with tradition and familiarity. By being aware of those characteristics, but subject to their constraints, I anticipate the forms with a reserved control. The weight of my clay coils allows for the vessel to take its form intuitively. It’s a liberating experience that is an ironic backdrop to the controlled drawings. As drawings, my surface decoration bring the implications of meticulousness, detail, and control of process. With deliberate contrast, those traits become especially evident as they are physically integrated with the earthy surface of the clay. Through a developed color palette and material process, I work the surface using detailed technical process while revealing the areas of clay and the vessels intuition.

The effort of shifting back and forth between the two contradicting processes mirrors the struggle of a person finding his or her purpose and identity through conversation in a culture that operates at an accelerated pace. As a practicing and believing conversationalist, I find that quality of experience ought to be appreciated and shared. By working with and on functional forms, my art extends into the environment and context surrounding it. In that way it is less instructional and better suited to the duality necessary for true conversation. The permanence of clay complements the evolving methods of communication. The material and age-old process of drawing on clay questions the broad and general subjects in conversation and the development of those thoughts in correlation with the changing technology that has become so integrated in our communication.

The images themselves reflect the culture and the shifts that occur in it. The contextualization of the animals and people I draw the images from brings yet another parallel to the changing communicative processes. By looking at timeless subjects in new or developing relationships to culture, I further the integration of those thoughts into the crafts of clay and drawing.

My work is a construction of conversation through multiple processes. By achieving a craft-based conversation in each piece that I make, I hope to integrate that dialogue into my audience and the changing lives that surround and inform my work.