Jill Smith

Jill Smith says about her fine art ceramic: “My claywork has always been about process, relationship and my surroundings. Taking the fluidity of clay in my hands and transforming it into lasting rigidity lets me express the feeling of place and give it a related connection in creative work. My creative process starts with a mental image which is then given physical form, for me it must involve vision, challenge, resourceful materials and a sense of playfulness. Clay and earth pigments through the ages have documented our own human development, told our story and connected us to where we live. My current work involves creating stories and tales that are whimsical but have a little something that hopefully makes one think. A fable moral so to speak. I have been using these as jump off points for clay totems that highlight part of the fable in physical form. For me these totemic symbols forever hardened in clay tell stories that connect us to nature and our place in it.”