Jane’s ceramic sculptures possess a strong voice, and a bold narrative about contrast, visual drama and playfulness.
Jane’s work is driven by the reflection that contemporary life, particularly as it is presented on ever-present social media, is so often a fiction: a curated, controlled and idealised version of ourselves and our doings rather than a reflection of the real, often chaotic and imperfect nature of existence. This concept is explored through the physical characteristics of her sculptures, with form, surface and colour acting as metaphors for control and disorder.
Jane aims for sculptural tension between states of messiness and the uncontrolled, and the tidy and ordered – the two states co-habiting dynamically in each object to achieve a contrast which is visually and haptically exciting. The work is process-driven, performative and technically challenging. Jane works slowly and carefully with earthenware clay, hand-building, constructing or throwing some elements. She combines this with looser handling, such as smearing or combing sticky reclaimed clay onto a smooth surface, or quickly twisting and squeezing a thrown form to set it off kilter.
Surface treatments include dark glazes offset by vivid acrylic colour. The use of non-ceramic material provides an additional means of achieving contrast, not just in colour, but in surface quality and feel – and an element of the unexpected.
Jane makes small series’ of works, which are related through their overall form and concept. Through drawing alongside making, forms evolve into new combinations and visual stories, leading to the development of new series.
Technical information
Jane’s sculptures are hand-built or thrown and altered (sometimes both) from white earthenware clay. Pieces are biscuit-fired to 1100 degrees in an electric kiln. Muted earthenware glazes, coloured with oxides or commercial stains, are applied by pouring or spraying and the pieces are fired again, to 1080 degrees. Vivid acrylic colours are applied at the final stage of making.
All ceramic work, text and site pages © Jane King