Ceramics Monthly: With over four decades of making under your belt, what brings you back into the studio each day? What questions are you asking yourself during those sessions that propel your practice forward?
Ken McCollum: I love working with clay; being in the studio daily gives me clarity of direction. I ask myself questions such as: Is my current work visually well done? Does the current piece challenge and expand the intentions of the last completed piece? What connection do I have to all my completed work? Am I able to feel satisfied making forms like previous pieces, and if not, why? Am I showing growth in my work? Does my work compete professionally with all the ceramic art juried show artists? Am I making progress in my struggle to complete a life series of similar works and what is it about my work that sells?
CM: Looking at the scope of your work over the last twenty years, I can see throughlines of bold sgraffito illustration, intentional use of flat color, and a simultaneous oscillation between clay as a functional canvas and non-functional object. How do you determine and develop the surfaces of your work and how important is function to your final vision?
KM: Yes, I have worked with various methods in making my work. I had a time when I made white forms with B-Mix Clay, then covered the surfaces with black underglaze and carved images that related to the form. These pieces were confusing as they were somewhere between functional pots and non-functional forms. After making over 50 pieces and having several showings, I needed to move away from that work.
I realized that I was making forms for an audience and asked myself if my intention was to make and sell inexpensive pieces at public festivals or to send work to galleries? It was in 2019 that I knew my true goal was making organic and figurative forms guided by growth rather than commercial viability. I built many forms that were 18–24 inches (45.7–60.9 cm) in height and made of earthenware clay. I began pushing the form of each piece further away from symmetry. Now, in the past two years, I have been making forms that still question purpose. I am using bright color fields, dot patterns over black underglaze, and images that blend one over the other to create tertiary patterns that challenge the viewer. I have found my way home.
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Ceramics Monthly: With over four decades of making under your belt, what brings you back into the studio each day? What questions are you asking yourself during those sessions that propel your practice forward?
Ken McCollum: I love working with clay; being in the studio daily gives me clarity of direction. I ask myself questions such as: Is my current work visually well done? Does the current piece challenge and expand the intentions of the last completed piece? What connection do I have to all my completed work? Am I able to feel satisfied making forms like previous pieces, and if not, why? Am I showing growth in my work? Does my work compete professionally with all the ceramic art juried show artists? Am I making progress in my struggle to complete a life series of similar works and what is it about my work that sells?
CM: Looking at the scope of your work over the last twenty years, I can see throughlines of bold sgraffito illustration, intentional use of flat color, and a simultaneous oscillation between clay as a functional canvas and non-functional object. How do you determine and develop the surfaces of your work and how important is function to your final vision?
KM: Yes, I have worked with various methods in making my work. I had a time when I made white forms with B-Mix Clay, then covered the surfaces with black underglaze and carved images that related to the form. These pieces were confusing as they were somewhere between functional pots and non-functional forms. After making over 50 pieces and having several showings, I needed to move away from that work.
I realized that I was making forms for an audience and asked myself if my intention was to make and sell inexpensive pieces at public festivals or to send work to galleries? It was in 2019 that I knew my true goal was making organic and figurative forms guided by growth rather than commercial viability. I built many forms that were 18–24 inches (45.7–60.9 cm) in height and made of earthenware clay. I began pushing the form of each piece further away from symmetry. Now, in the past two years, I have been making forms that still question purpose. I am using bright color fields, dot patterns over black underglaze, and images that blend one over the other to create tertiary patterns that challenge the viewer. I have found my way home.
Photo: Stacie Emerson.
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