Jennifer Martin
Jennifer Martin’s deceptively complex, almost lifelike functional ware seems to channel motion without losing its stability. Fired most often with salt or soda, Jennifer’s glazes always benefit from the atmosphere in the kiln, and although her work is most often thrown on a wheel, it is almost never round. Her work often acts as a metaphor for the human body, and though her cups and platters are most certainly utilitarian, she considers function secondary to fluidity and gesture in the form.
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Jennifer Martin at MudFire
Gallery group show Mug*Shots, August 2009
Gallery group show Put A Lid On It, May 2007
Workshop presenter Loosen Up, September 2005
Solo show FormCadenceProfile, August 2005
Gallery group show 8 x 10 Atlanta, November 2003
Solo show Flashing Series, July 2003
Jennifer Martin Artist Bio
Jennifer D. Martin is a full-time educator and ceramic artist living in Atlanta, Georgia. After receiving a BFA from Georgia Southern University in 1997, her passion for clay led her to Georgia State University where she received a MFA in Ceramics in 2000. After completing her MFA program, she joined the Ceramics faculty of the School of Art and Design at Georgia State University in 2001 as Adjunct Instructor and continued through 2005 as a Visiting Instructor.
As a ceramic artist and educator, she enjoys sharing information and helping others along the journey to express artistic intention through clay. In addition to teaching, Jennifer built the soda kiln at GSU. Her work celebrates tradition while not being inhibited by its vast history. Using the potter's wheel as a tool and soda firing her work, she reveals the silky sensual nature of clay as reflected by the touch of her hand.
Jennifer's professional experience also includes a Visiting Instructor position at the State University of West Georgia in 2001. Her exhibition record includes several group and solo shows. She has been a guest lecturer, visiting artist, artist in residence and instructor at many different art centers and schools in the Atlanta area.
Jennifer Martin Artist Statement
My ceramic work celebrates tradition while not being inhibited by its vast history. I strive to reveal the sensual nature of clay as reflected by the touch of my hand. Using similar tools and processes to that of a traditional potter, I look not towards the ideal symmetrical vessel but instead towards asymmetry. My work often acts as a metaphor for the physical body, and I consider function secondary to fluidity and gesture in the form. While the marks on the surface of the pots record the history of my hand in its creation, these same marks represent an individual's experience. Like the rings seen in the cross-section of a tree, these marks provide a history of growth. In a similar manner I use the repetitive lines and patterns in my work to create a vocabulary able to describe gender, a specific situation, a human journey or simply one's personality make-up.
Both the scale of the work and the way the work is grouped is of utmost importance to me. I hope to elevate the ceramic vessel from simply a utilitarian object through creating different scenarios in which to view them. The way two forms reflect each other's profiles, a grid-work of cups both similar in form but completely unique when viewed together or large-scale forms created from actual body measurements provide a variety of experiences to explore the same body of work and find possible narratives. The use of soda firing is used to maintain a flesh-like aspect to the clay thus reminding us of our own physical selves. On one's physical body we know that scars and imperfections mark moments in our lives and can trigger memory of those moments. Whether or not these experiences are positive or negative I am interested in embracing and celebrating the marks left behind as one progresses through life
