Jennifer King American, b. 1968

Jennifer King was born in Connecticut and grew up in New Jersey. She received a BFA from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1992, where she studied under ceramist Betty Woodman and Scott Chamberlin. She lives and works in Los Angeles. Jennifer’s ceramics practice is rooted in the vessel and the deconstruction of our notions of that form. Her textured, painterly surfaces are sourced from a wide range of imagery, often referencing the figure.

 

As an artist, I am searching for an alchemy between the materials, my subject matter, and the very act of making art. In my works, I explore the mythical, the roles that define us as women, in particular, and desire to transcend the experience of the everyday. The vessel form appeals to me for its historic context and its inherent reference to domestic objects. The imperfections, texture and evidence of the hand are deliberate and intrinsic to the pieces. I strive to imbue humor in images related to the abandonment of control and order in our lives - exploring the brilliant and absurd circumstances and excruciating moments we live through. At the root is a desperation to belong. Elements of the natural world intrude and add a further sense of confusion or displacement to figures simultaneously saving and stifling another. These works reflect upon a childhood that was deeply infused with a reverence for high art, as well as one that was extremely unstable and explosive. My own current domestic life as a mother of two and an art teacher to teenagers in Los Angeles deeply affects my work, as well. The embedded texts on the vessel interiors are fragments of my thoughts and days. As an avid reader of fiction, the words are also, often, a reflection of the books I am reading. I regard each piece I create to be part of a greater whole that is reaching for an invisible thread to a notion of harmony.