The audio file for this article was produced by the Ceramic Arts Network staff and not read by the author.
Ceramics Monthly: What role does tactility play in your work?
Jessica Sanders: I come from a long line of quilters and fiber workers. I particularly think of two of my great-grandmothers sitting and hand-stitching quilts and sewing clothes for their children and family. While I’m not making
quilts, my work is fairly quilt-like and is compared to quilts a lot. I hand make each piece and then wire them together, twisting the wire with my fingers. I really feel a part of that legacy, of creating with my hands. They were stitching, I am
wiring. The comparison to quilts is very fun to me—my work can definitely have the same kind of fluid movement as cloth—but unlike a quilt, which is soft and warm, my work is cold and hard to the touch.
I also have ADHD and since childhood have needed something in my hands to work with or fidget with. I have a constant need for stimulation, so practicing a hands-on process is ideal. With this work, I always have something to do and I love that.
My work is very time consuming and process driven. My hand cuts out the pieces, adds the holes, places each piece in the kiln, unloads each piece from the kiln, sorts them, and then wires them together. The pieces, once put together, are extremely flexible
and bendable. While I have the ability to hang them the same way, I have the option for them to be hung differently at any time. I don’t usually plan out how the pieces will be put together or how the pieces are hung beforehand, I let the process inform
me and make decisions as I go. When hanging, I will bunch the piece up or twist it to get folds and dimensionality. It’s all by feel and by touch. Sometimes I really hate that when my work is in a gallery setting it can’t really be handled
by the viewer. People really don’t know how flexible and bendable the pieces are until they either touch them or see me touch them. Maybe someday I’ll figure out a way for the viewer to physically interact with the work.
CM: What do you do to stay engaged with the field of contemporary ceramics?
JS: One of the biggest resources for me is Instagram. It has been the main way I’ve kept up with friends and peers from undergraduate and graduate school who are still making art, people I’ve met at gallery openings and conferences,
and other incredible artists. I am constantly learning techniques and new things about the material from people on the app.
This year will be my sixth National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) conference. My first was in 2016 in Kansas City, Missouri. I was so new to ceramics at the time and seeing everything that could be done in the medium and being surrounded
by literally the most genuine and generous people changed my life. I haven’t looked back from clay since. Every time I am able to go to NCECA, I am blown away by the clay community. There is so much research being shared it’s overwhelming
but in a good way. And unlike social media, it is a physical way to stay engaged. I also attend the Texas Clay Festival in Greene, Texas. It’s nice having both a national and a more local way of engaging.
Being involved with a university has been really important in keeping me engaged. I’ve been adjuncting when needed and helping fire the kilns at the University of Texas at Tyler since graduating with my MFA in 2020. Having students has really kept
me on my toes. In a lot of ways, it’s forced me to keep up to date on certain things I probably wouldn’t have otherwise and keeps me researching. Getting to work with the next generation is such a privilege.
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The audio file for this article was produced by the Ceramic Arts Network staff and not read by the author.
Ceramics Monthly: What role does tactility play in your work?
Jessica Sanders: I come from a long line of quilters and fiber workers. I particularly think of two of my great-grandmothers sitting and hand-stitching quilts and sewing clothes for their children and family. While I’m not making quilts, my work is fairly quilt-like and is compared to quilts a lot. I hand make each piece and then wire them together, twisting the wire with my fingers. I really feel a part of that legacy, of creating with my hands. They were stitching, I am wiring. The comparison to quilts is very fun to me—my work can definitely have the same kind of fluid movement as cloth—but unlike a quilt, which is soft and warm, my work is cold and hard to the touch.
I also have ADHD and since childhood have needed something in my hands to work with or fidget with. I have a constant need for stimulation, so practicing a hands-on process is ideal. With this work, I always have something to do and I love that.
My work is very time consuming and process driven. My hand cuts out the pieces, adds the holes, places each piece in the kiln, unloads each piece from the kiln, sorts them, and then wires them together. The pieces, once put together, are extremely flexible and bendable. While I have the ability to hang them the same way, I have the option for them to be hung differently at any time. I don’t usually plan out how the pieces will be put together or how the pieces are hung beforehand, I let the process inform me and make decisions as I go. When hanging, I will bunch the piece up or twist it to get folds and dimensionality. It’s all by feel and by touch. Sometimes I really hate that when my work is in a gallery setting it can’t really be handled by the viewer. People really don’t know how flexible and bendable the pieces are until they either touch them or see me touch them. Maybe someday I’ll figure out a way for the viewer to physically interact with the work.
CM: What do you do to stay engaged with the field of contemporary ceramics?
JS: One of the biggest resources for me is Instagram. It has been the main way I’ve kept up with friends and peers from undergraduate and graduate school who are still making art, people I’ve met at gallery openings and conferences, and other incredible artists. I am constantly learning techniques and new things about the material from people on the app.
This year will be my sixth National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) conference. My first was in 2016 in Kansas City, Missouri. I was so new to ceramics at the time and seeing everything that could be done in the medium and being surrounded by literally the most genuine and generous people changed my life. I haven’t looked back from clay since. Every time I am able to go to NCECA, I am blown away by the clay community. There is so much research being shared it’s overwhelming but in a good way. And unlike social media, it is a physical way to stay engaged. I also attend the Texas Clay Festival in Greene, Texas. It’s nice having both a national and a more local way of engaging.
Being involved with a university has been really important in keeping me engaged. I’ve been adjuncting when needed and helping fire the kilns at the University of Texas at Tyler since graduating with my MFA in 2020. Having students has really kept me on my toes. In a lot of ways, it’s forced me to keep up to date on certain things I probably wouldn’t have otherwise and keeps me researching. Getting to work with the next generation is such a privilege.
Learn more at www.jessicalsandersart.com.
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