Artist: Jason Hartsoe
Jason Hartsoe, NORTH CAROLINA
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Artist Statement
My work relies on the acknowledgment of antecedents. I believe that successful art requires a firm foundation in the work that came before it. It operates by recognizing and capitalizing on the surprising unity and collective nature of seemingly disparate ceramic traditions. The common language of forms created by the diverse cultures of our world, crossing the myriad technological divides are all dictated by themes of functionality and a common human scale.
I look not only to the forms themselves but also to the traditional methods used to make them. I have pursued my education through the process of apprenticeship and working closely with other master potters, beginning in Japan and continuing through England and here in the US. This slow education allowed for an organic training and development of the eye for form and instructed the hand in how to respond to the material.
As a functional potter I am unapologetically deeply reverent of tradition. However, I demand that my work resist a static complacency in merely the replication of the past. The challenge of my studio practice is to escape the dangers of the derivative and to allow the free experimentation with preexisting fundamentals and to synthesize them with a fresh, contemporary approach and consideration. My design is to encourage something new from the past and in so doing, to create something vital and lasting. It is my hope that perhaps it will succeed in demonstrating a kind of new translation of the better themes of our functional forms.
SELECTED SHOWS + EXHIBITIONS
Across the Pond and Back: Training, Making, Influence
NCECA Richmond, VA
March 2020
Eight Fluid Ounces 9th BIANNUAL National Invitational Ceramic Cup Exhibition
Louisiana State University
January 2020
Resident Artist Exhibition
Archie Bray Foundation,
June 2018
Ceramiche Nuove, Solo Show
La Bottega del Comune — Cortona, Italy
October 2017
Kobo Cup Show
Seattle WA
November 2016, 2017, 2019
Apprenticelines NCECA ‘15
www.apprenticelines.org
Group Show with Richard Truckle, Mieko Sagasaki, and Lucie Brisson
Noritake
Nagoya, Japan
May 2013
First Works, Solo Show
Tokoname, Japan
May 2010
RESIDENCIES
Artist in Residence
Penland School of Craft - Penland, NC
September 2018 to present
Summer Resident
Archie Bray Foundation - Helena Montana
May - September 2018
Visiting Artist
smART Kinston, Kinston NC
April 2018
Artist in Residence
University of Georgia — Cortona, Italy
February 2017 – December 2017
Short Term Resident Artist
STARworks Ceramics — Star, NC
September 2016 – January 2017
TEACHING
Visiting Artist
Appalachian State University — Boone, NC
October 2016
Demonstrations,Slide Lectures, Student critiques and Q & A
CERAMIC TRAINING
Apprentice
Michael Hunt & Naomi Dalglish, Bandana Pottery — Bandana, NC
November 2013 – July 2016
Full Time Apprentice in a production pottery. Intensive on the job training. Dug local clay and processed it. Milled local rock and feldspar for glazes. Assisted in making production work. Loaded and fired kilns. Assisted with workshops and many national exhibitions. During this time developed my own work and began cultivation of my market.
Assistant
Dan Finnegan Pottery — Fredericksburg, VA
January 2011 – October 2013
Assisted long standing studio potter in material processing, wood firings, as well as retail work at many national exhibition. Assisted with kiln building and kiln building workshops. During this time I studied wood-fired slip ware intensively and developed my own work.
Assistant
Winchcombe Pottery — Gloucestershire, England
June 2010 – October 2010
Mixed and processed clay, prepared wood kiln fuel, assisted in wood and gas kiln firings, maintained a clean studio, made the tea and performed gallery duties for a historic production pottery.
Student
Mieko Sagasaki and Richard Truckle — Tokoname, Japan
March 2010 – May 2010
Initiated my education with wheel thrown forms, material processing, wood and gas kiln firing. Assisted with a national gallery exhibition and gained a first hand knowledge of local Japanese ceramics.
EDUCATION
B.A. English
Belmont Abbey — Belmont, NC
1997 – 2001
REPRESENTATION
Penland Gallery, Penland, NC
American Folk Gallery — Asheville, NC
Gallery At Flat Rock — Flat Rock, NC
Archie Bray Foundation — Helena, MT
Details Gallery — Landrum, SC
STARworks Gallery — Star, NC