THE ALCHEMY OF JENNIFER MCCURDY’S FINE CRAFT PORCELAINS

JENNIFER McCURDY

These porcelain vessels will take your breath away. Ceramic artist Jennifer McCurdy takes her craft to the level of alchemy. Mere clay can become wind, fire, an energy vortex, or a fantasy life form in her hands.

McCurdy has been making magic with porcelain craft  for over 30 years. She combines techniques, working both on a potter’s wheel and hand shaping and carving her pieces. She begins throwing wet porcelain on the wheel, as traditional potters do. Then, she alters the form to create a more organic movement, capturing light and soft shadows in novel contrasts.

Next, when the porcelain is leather hard, McCurdy carves patterns to add energy and counterpoint. While they appear graceful and delicate, translucent porcelain is one of the hardest surfaces known to man.

The ability to transform earthen materials into ethereal objects of unparalleled beauty is what makes McCurdy one of the top fine craft ceramicists in the world. She is among our favorites.

McCurdy’s newly published book, Vessels: A Conversation in Porcelain and Poetry, which she produced with her sister, poet Wendy Mulhern, prompted us to feature these fine porcelain works as part of our Beautiful Craft series.

For the last few years, McCurdy has been contemplating structural questions as she evolves her craft: How thin can the high fire porcelain be before it collapses in the fire? How much can it be cut away and still maintain structural integrity? How can the structural form be integrated with the visual, as in nature? How can the movement of the potter's wheel and the fire of the kiln be reflected in the finished piece, which is rock-hard and permanent?

McCurdy, who lives and works on Martha’s Vineyard, always looks to the natural beauty around her for answers and inspiration.

“As a potter, I strive to make my work reflect the balance of life around me,” she explains. “It is important that the patterns I see around me are integrated into my forms.”

But it is not just the physical attributes of flora and fauna that inform her -- it is also her own response to them.

“Emotion fills me when I see perfect forms in nature, from the cracked conch shell on the beach revealing its perfect spiral, to the milkweed pod burst in the field, its brilliant airborne seeds streaming into the sunlight. The ordered symmetry and asymmetry of nature’s forms reveal the growth of life, the movement of life.”

As life is filled with both contrast and balanced forces, McCurdy considers these in her works. She plays with balance between the convex and the concave; between absorbed, translucent, and reflected light; between fragility and strength.

Some of McCurdy’s pieces contrast white porcelain with gleaming gold, with interior surfaces gilded in 23 carat gold leaf, accentuating her swoon-inducing curves and patterns.

McCurdy’s book Vessels includes dozens of color photographs of her craft works, plus a section on her process which includes 45 color images. McCurdy’s works are also featured in The New Age of Ceramics, a seminal book by Hannah Stouffer.

McCurdy’s pieces can be found in top museums and galleries around the world, including the Smithsonian Museum’s Renwick Gallery, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Brooklyn Museum. See more of McCurdy’s exquisite craft works as well as a complete list of museums and galleries on her website.

If you know of other fine crafts artists whose work we should know about, share them with us and we’ll give you a shout out if we feature them on BeautifulNow.

Read more about Beautiful Crafts in Handcrafted Slow Fashion to Love Forever, The Landfill Harmonic Turns Trash Into Beautiful Music, Scrap Wood Reborn as Beautiful Vessels & Furniture, Fantastical Wood Craft by Joey Richardson and  The most Beautiful Handcrafted Bourbons Now.

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Mind/Body, Soul/Impact, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Arts/Design, and Place/Time, Daily Fix posts.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: Courtesy of Jennifer McCurdy. “Gilded Coral Nest.” Designed & created by Jennifer McCurdy.
2. Image: “Vessels: A Conversation in Porcelain and Poetry.” Book by Jennifer McCurdy and Wendy Mulhern. Courtesy of Schiffer.
3. Image: Courtesy of Jennifer McCurdy. “Gilded White Gold Ribbon Vessel.” Designed & created by Jennifer McCurdy.
4. Image: Courtesy of Jennifer McCurdy. “Vortex Flower.” Designed & created by Jennifer McCurdy.
5. Image: Courtesy of Jennifer McCurdy. “Gilded Lotus Nest.” Designed & created by Jennifer McCurdy.
6. Image: Courtesy of Jennifer McCurdy. “Coral Nest Detail.” Designed & created by Jennifer McCurdy.
7. Image: Courtesy of Jennifer McCurdy. “Wind Bowl.” Designed & created by Jennifer McCurdy.
8. Image: Courtesy of Jennifer McCurdy. "Gilded Tsunami Vessel." Designed & created by Jennifer McCurdy.
9. Image: Courtesy of Jennifer McCurdy. Assortment of gilded and white porcelain pieces. Designed & created by Jennifer McCurdy.
10. Image: Courtesy of Jennifer McCurdy. “Butterfly Magritte’s Flame Vessel.” Designed & created by Jennifer McCurdy.
11. Image: Courtesy of Jennifer McCurdy. “Gilded Water Lily.” Designed & created by Jennifer McCurdy.
12. Image: Courtesy of Jennifer McCurdy. “Roly Wind Vessel.” Designed & created by Jennifer McCurdy.
13. Image: Courtesy of Jennifer McCurdy. “Gilded River Vesseli.” Designed & created by Jennifer McCurdy.
14. Image: by BN App - Download now!
15. Image: Courtesy of Jennifer McCurdy. “Vortex Vessel.” Designed & created by Jennifer McCurdy.