jenny mendes - Ceramics and Pottery Arts and Resources

Tag Archives: jenny mendes

2 ceramicists with vivid illustration

February 13, 2015

Larger than life characters entwined with nature, animals, striking imagery, channeling the mystical and subconscious, all mixed with a lucid clarity, are some of the recurring themes that Jessie Mooy and Jenny Mendes both use in the decorative styles of their art. Both artists create expressive figures, Jenny Mendes using edgy, innocent and mischievous looking humans and animals that look like they belong in a children’s story that’s waiting to unfold, while Jessie’s figures reflect a soulful nobility and interact with botanical decorations.

Jessie Mooy, France

Born in Amsterdam, Jessie emigrated with her parents to South Africa when she was a child. She studied Fine Arts at the University of Pretoria, specializing in painting, then went on to study sculpture techniques at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth. Since 2009 she has been living and working in the Dordogne in France, famous for its cave art and Romanesque churches. Her studio Atelier la Tour des Bidoux is situated in a Medieval Archer’s Tower near Riberac.

Three girls dancing – raku sculpture – Jessie Mooy

‘In my art, the image of woman functions as a counterforce to all forms of alienation, especially alienation from nature and from the spiritual, by virtue of the fact that woman is depicted as a life-giving earth mother or as a custodian of all life in nature. In my ceramic work my continued interest in the creative aspect of the earth, plants and all its creatures has always been evident, not only in the medium, but also in the formal variety e.g. vessels become flowers, handles and rims of vases become leaves. My interest in the female form becomes part of a vessel to express oneness with nature. My ongoing study of the ancient art of Egypt and Greece reflects all these above-mentioned interests. There is a beauty that transcends the temporary in the art of these cultures. I try to achieve the same timelessness.’

‘Living in a world devoid of spiritual aspirations and where the importance of material interests is stressed, I believe that the female is the natural medium to invoke an order to guard the great mysteries of the unknown. She has to weave together the reality of our conscious life and the mystical, intuitive and divine part of ourselves which is an element of nature.’

Vase featuring female head – Jessie Mooy

Two women and a dog in architectural setting – ceramic sculpture by Jessie Mooy

Height 51cm – 1994

Raku bust on marble base – Jessie Mooy

‘Moondance’ – Minoan style dish plaque – Jessie Mooy

2003

Jessie Mooy ceramic workshop

Jessie Mooy

Raku figurine bust candelabrum – Jessie Mooy

Harlequin Cavalier riding a horse – large oval plate by Jessie Mooy

‘Harmony’ – Jessie Mooy

Jessie Mooy vase

Harlequin riding a horse – Jessie Mooy

‘Eva in the forest’ Jessie Mooy Vase earthenware

2013

‘Mother & Child’ – Jessie Mooy

Twin handled vase with botanical decoration – jessie Mooy

Lady with birds decorative plate – Jessie Mooy

Dancing female with flute – Jessie Mooy

‘Queen’ – raku bust – Jessie Mooy

‘Lady with Hat’ twin handled vase – Jessie Mooy

‘Lucia and Bijou’ – Raku cat sculptures by Jessie Mooy

Vase with female face motif – Jessie Mooy

Jessie’s website

Jenny Mendes, Ohio USA

Jenny Mendes received her BFA in Ceramics from Washington University in St. Louis. She also did residencies at The Resen Ceramics Colony in Resen, Macedonia, and Penland School of Crafts, North Carolina. Jenny draws on mythology and folk art as her premise, using figurative imagery, both human and animal to create charismatic stories of a much larger scale

Hand sculpted Bird Vases – Jenny Mendes

‘Using clay as my primary material, I have found an entry way into my subconscious. I work intuitively with a palate comprised of many things. First I create a structure which I overlay with painted patterns of emotional experience, sensory based memories, cellular formations, and other discoveries. Working within a human/animal narrative, I engage in a dialogue that witnesses and reflects an invitation into my world.’

‘I love to draw on anything but especially clay. Discovering the pleasure of drawing on and into a bone dry clay tile was illuminating for me. This soft subtractive way of drawing leads me into my subject in a way that drawing on paper never has. I don’t think my process is the most exciting thing to watch. Probably the [most] interesting [part of my process] is when a mysterious image comes to me from where I know not’. – from an article on Terra Sigillata Clay Tile Painting by Jenny Mendez at Ceramic Arts Daily.