Artist Statement September 2010.

Jason Lee Starin

Artist Statement September 2010.



In my current work, an accepted loss of control is seen through expressive form, imposing the question of value in function, as well as, works which represent the artist as organizer of material and other peoples acts.

The expressive biomorphic ceramic forms are the petrified refuse of the craftsman’s hand. They are presence recorded. By working quickly and solidly, nullifying ceramics technical tradition, if there is such a thing still, the works represent the pure sub-conscience creative and labor acts. They are purges which serve as momentum and catalyst to my practice. In their creation, I have reached a wonderful raw space which serves as a source of awareness in my continued practice.

These sculptures as recorded acts were the first to get me out of myself. With consideration that all ceramic work is essentially a container, by technical default conditional to the firing process, I wanted to project onto the viewer a sense of this loss of control. By challenging the functional aspect of the hole of a container, the viewer / user no longer has any sense of control tog the object though perceived ownership. By combining the man-made familiar forms of angles with the lumpy happenstance forms that is clay unto it’s own, these containers at first appear understandable, possibly welcoming. Seeing the hole which defines the object as functional, yet contrasted by its undefined relation to the specific shape of the form, challenges the idea of purpose of the object, whether that object be one of design or sculpture.

Moving beyond the importance of the object, I find my self more concerned with loss of control by allowing outside limitations into my work and practice. The wooden collages are composed refuse of what other craft-persons consider dispensable. The forms of the individual blocks are my choice in placement alone, not in form. I see these works as a collaborative effort in a sense. As each end-cut, when re-formated in a new way, now serves as symbol of identity to the person who previously disavowed it’s importance. This work has established an approach to my practice I have not previously considered. I see this work as a process of understanding the value of others peoples acts, intentional or not, but still working cohesively. By working together, a collaborative piece can have a more meaningful effect on a community than my singular interpretation of it.

Block Collage

The Work of the Hand

I am interested in the questions and concerns of material consciousness. Specifically, I am interested in the traditional craft materials of clay and wood. The histories and uses of these craft materials have developed my notion of self as much as I have manipulated the possible forms they intrinsically offer. Clay, a material I have been trained academically as well as technically, from elementary through undergraduate school, is a medium of the utmost amorphous. With out the limitations of form, I find I become overwhelmed with it’s potential - in form as well as introspective exploration. Subsequently, I return to wood occasionally, a material with physical limitations due to it’s rigidity. Also, in choosing to stay technically naive about wood, I am free from the confining traditions craftsmanship has held strict to the material. With this perspective I can become aware of it’s inherent qualities of shape and color through the non-clouded awareness of touch alone. With a more refined sensibility of material, working with other craft mediums such as wood, has benefited my clay practice. Some times it’s hard to remember where one started after a long journey.
I grew up in a conventional and conservative suburb out side Detroit. These attitudes were not strictly verbalized, it was just the way things were done. In silence, I remember pondering that there must other, equally viable ways to live. Thus began my anti-conformist attitude. Neither agreeing or disagreeing with the status quo, I became more observer than say, activist. These introspective curiosities naturally lead me to wonder more philosophically. Working with clay, during my developmental years, I’m sure had an impact to these open-ended considerations of my environment and the things that defined it. Since moving away from this conventional environment, and integrating with more of a liberal social attitudes of living, I find the need to challenge the status quo less. Furthermore, and I consider if this is more to do with maturity, I have been curious to find the connections and similarities between conservative perspectives of living and that of traditional craft practices. In these increasing virtual times, is a traditional haptic practice more radical by comparison? In a time when social awareness is needed through positive human to human consideration, can the spiritual be formed by the work of the hand?
I believe my role as a maker is to address through the symbolic forms I create, the need for a more psychological, sociocultural and spiritual awareness. By utilizing the qualities that traditional craft materials possess, of which all cultures have a history of knowledge, a higher consciousness between the peoples of today could be established. A sympathetic community of all peoples could be established if we all could see ourselves as products of our shared craft ingenuity. The forms that human-kind has made collectivity, have served their physical functions. The craft forms that have sustained our survival, that of containers, covers, and shelters, can now serve a greater meaning for our collective existence through their use as relational symbols. We all need to remember why it’s important to get in touch, before we forget how to do so.

Jason Lee Starin
09.06.2010