Jennifer King Virtual Feature
I have always been interested in exploring the space between function and sculpture in my ceramic work; craft versus art, surface and form. In my more recent pieces, In my newer work, I have been using the clay as a canvas for my figurative, discombobulated figures in nature - aiming to invoke both humor and a feeling of unease.
I am interested in pushing the depth of the surface. I use a variety of techniques in building my forms, often combining handbuilt and wheelthrown forms together. I have also been exploring new wall pieces that are ceramic and mixed media. I love the durability of stoneware and porcelain, and I use the uncommon technique of applying underglaze painted on top of glazes; pieces are often fired multiple times. I continue to return to smaller, functional pieces as a meditation, and a testing ground for larger vessels. I enjoy the intimate space that these smaller pieces hold with the viewer.
Jennifer King (b 1968, Connecticut), spent her youth on the outskirts of New York, the daughter of two classical musicians. Her work in ceramics has spanned the decades since receiving her BFA from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1991. Studying there with ceramic artists Betty Woodman and Scott Chamberlin was formative to Jennifer’s work in the medium. It was at this time that she became fascinated with the vessel as a form, both sculptural and utilitarian, and the conversation between craft and art. Over the years, Jennifer has also had a successful career as a graphic designer and art director in Los Angeles, where she worked on numerous major advertising campaigns in the film and TV industry. In 2007, after having two children, she left the advertising world to do freelance work, devote more time to being at home and maintaining her art studio. Jennifer has had considerable success with her utilitarian ceramics, and exhibits and sells her pieces at museum gift shops and select small boutiques and galleries across the United States. In the past few years, Jennifer has shifted her interest in ceramics more seriously to creating larger vessel forms and vibrant, illustrative figures and motifs that she paints on the surfaces. Jennifer teaches art in a secondary school in Los Angeles. In 2021, she received much critical success with her first solo exhibition at The Pit gallery in Los Angeles.
