This page is dedicated to the students who have worked at my studio as interns. The internship is currently a semester long and is for course credit. Other internship/assistantship opportunities are available for people whom have graduated. We wouldn't be where we are if it hadn't been for the students, family and friends who have believed in its value. The studio and kiln is as much theirs as it is ours.
Thank you for all of your support,
JD, Sara, Micah and Ofelia
2007 Internship at Jorgenson Pottery
Mary Wagner
Artist Statement
I am originally from South Dakota, the land of Raku pottery. I moved to Minnesota for undergraduate studies and discovered the wonders of wood-fired pottery. I graduated from the College Saint Benedict in 2007.I received a BA in Studio Art, with an emphasis in Ceramics.The internship at Jorgenson Pottery greatly enhanced my learning experience. I am particularly interested in wood-fired pottery and sustainability. I am also interested in using art, particularly ceramics, as a means of therapy and also as a way to enhance mental well-being. I am currently working as an assistant English teacher in Okinawa Japan.It is very interesting to see the difference in ceramics styles between regions, and also the difference (and similarities) between American and Japanese ceramics. Okinawa has a very unique pottery tradition, and it has been very interesting being exposed to it. I will soon return to the United States and I am excited to see what the future holds. It will be exciting to get back into clay and make some work again.
Artist Statement
Innovation guides me to achieve work with specific results. My work expresses relaxed, casualness qualities with rustic colors and surfaces that develop through many steps of the ceramic process.While I am very drawn to the process of firing with the renewable resource of wood, and also using natural and local materials for clays and glazes, I constantly test and experiment to achieve specific surfaces that help unify my work with an earthen aesthetic. My most recent work involves two separate techniques that produce two styles of pottery, both with earthen and heedlessly expressive qualities. The first technique involves the use of layering slips and stains under wood ash glazes, and then firing the pieces in a clean atmosphere.Every layer is applied with speed and deliberation and I choose to leave all drips, smudges, and finger marks on every piece, resulting in crisp decoration that communicates honesty. When forming each pot on the wheel, I attempt to achieve this same crispness from intentional movements; I aim to touch the clay as little as possible. The second technique involves much of the same principles, but the firing process is much more involved.I have recently been firing in a gas-fueled kiln and using wood, salt and wood ash to achieve surfaces similar to those produced in wood-fueled kilns. This technique has produced many successful results, which has allowed me the opportunity to concentrate on further developing new forms; forms that compliment the randomness of the colorful, textured surfaces achieved by this firing process.
I am originally from Cedar Rapids, Iowa and I am an undergraduate Art major concentrating in clay at the College Benedict/Saint John's University. I served two separate Internships for JD Jorgenson Pottery during my Freshman and Sophomore years, each of which involved practice of design elements and building techniques to construct the current three chamber wood kiln. Due to a recent knee injury and surgery, I decided to take a step back from wood-firing and theintenselylaboriousnature of the process.;I also felt compelled to find other methods of achieving specific earthen, rustic surfaces in my work.My recent gas-fired work involves using wood, salt, wood ash, wood-fire slips, and wood ash glazes to produce surfaces similar to those produced in wood kilns. The majority of my glaze ware alsoemphasizesthe use of natural materials in producing my work, utilizing wood ash as a main component in glazes to supplement &store bought materials. I am currently working through details of my Honors Thesis, which involves the construction of a wood-burning kiln on the CSB/SJU campus. The project will explore the wood-fired surface while incorporating contemporary ceramic ideas concerning making pottery and sculpture pieces with clay. Emphasis will be placed on producing pieces that work cohesively with the expressive qualities of the wood-fired surface.
2008 Internship at Jorgenson Pottery
Artist Statement
I enjoy making ceramic work that appears untouched and feels raw. Because of this, I am drawn to hand building as a process and glazeless surface finishes. While intrigued by wood firing, I have embraced salt firing as an alternative, and have found glazeless work to feel more raw and natural in essence. When coil building, I allow the coils to remain exposed which produces an uneven surface that seems to be unaffected by touch. To further this untainted approach, I have extended untouched to unseen and have found myself working in a way that is upside down, concealing the progress of the texture until a piece is finished. This is demonstrated in my recent work, Holes:
Holes
The path of self discovery and exploration of expressing emotion through clay led me to the series, Holes. These coiled pieces, hand built upside down, are meant to draw the viewer in as the coils spiral deeper and deeper into the form. Whether hidden within a pedestal to exaggerate its unforeseen depth, disguised in another vessel to create a false sense of wholeness, or exposed and vulnerable, hanging on the wall, each ‘hole’ has been smoothed over on the outside to conceal the whorl of emptiness held within.
Giao Hoang
The spouted bowls and lidded jar in the Reduction Series reflect my relationship with the local clay body used at Bresnahan's studio. The mixing process of its raw, indigenous state with the ideas that generate considerations, respect, and freedom to the material is the most important truth I have learned during my time at the College of Saint Benedict. No matter what I make, where I place it in a wood kiln, the clay is forgiving and opens up time for me to develop conversations that teach me how to learn from my failures and take me further to play with the next process. Once this clay changes its composition in the atmosphere of a wood kiln, the celebration of its life continues without my personal interactions and philosophies. It is then that the ideas to the art I make is reduced to a simple significance; the pottery is for people who allow their existing memories to communicate with clay over time.
2009 Internship at Jorgenson Pottery
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Through visual representations of what I feel when the wind blows, the trees rustle, when I hold a stone in my hand, or witness a drying patch of dirt pulling away from its surroundings, I strive to make art that will evoke feelings of natural awe and undemanding beauty. These intimate exchanges of energy give stability to life through an unconscious comfort. I believe in human's innate attraction to nature and the simple beauty of earth's cycles. I enjoy collaborating with clay and trying to understand its properties of cracking, pulling and drying to their fullest potential. Giving up part of the artistic process to clay's natural characteristics facilitates releasing part of myself to the material.
Right now I am working with photography and raw clay in which I am trying to emphasize the raw beauty of clay drying. I change drying times, slips and clays I work with, and water to clay ratios in my work to create different patterns of cracking. I have also recently become interested in wood firing for the surfaces it produces, the relationship you develop with the kiln, and the community of a firing process.