Jim RombergRaku Artist, Port Townsend
website: www.jimromberg.com "Stretchings of clay around volume, experience, and aspiration, contain activities of the heart, mind, soul, and body, which, leading to a sense of movement, psychology, and speculation, involve abstract relationships intended to provoke contemplation and discovery." |
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Awakening
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Ascent
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Nocturnal Ballet
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Dordogne Wall
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Tectonic Shift
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Sideways Glance
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Artist Statement
For centuries clay has registered the thumbprint of human expression. At times, the response to its plasticity has opened new doors of expression and affected aesthetic perceptions. Two instances of this that have influenced my work are the 14th century advent of Raku Ceramics and Japanese Tea Ceremony, and the 1950’s Abstract Expressionist Ceramics movement in California. Both abandoned previous definitions of function and design resulting in clay becoming responsive to new aesthetic impulses. Clay was given a new vocabulary less dependent on representation leading the viewer to contemplation beyond function and purpose.
My work continues that impulse, presenting instances of form, texture, glaze, fire and smoke that hopefully lead the viewer to new discoveries and perceptions.
For centuries clay has registered the thumbprint of human expression. At times, the response to its plasticity has opened new doors of expression and affected aesthetic perceptions. Two instances of this that have influenced my work are the 14th century advent of Raku Ceramics and Japanese Tea Ceremony, and the 1950’s Abstract Expressionist Ceramics movement in California. Both abandoned previous definitions of function and design resulting in clay becoming responsive to new aesthetic impulses. Clay was given a new vocabulary less dependent on representation leading the viewer to contemplation beyond function and purpose.
My work continues that impulse, presenting instances of form, texture, glaze, fire and smoke that hopefully lead the viewer to new discoveries and perceptions.