Artist's Statement
Everything created by man flourishes for a brief moment in time, and then its usefulness plays out, its luster fades, and it’s slowly reclaimed by the land from whence it came. Objects from our past, enriched by the patina of years, are frequently relegated to a forgotten corner as cast-off vestiges of a bygone era. I find that transitional period between usefulness and obscurity to be intriguing.
The basic components of every man-made object come from the earth and slowly return to it, but somewhere near its inception was an idea born in the mind of its inventor. Whether a complex piece of machinery or a simple one-piece item like a nail, an axe head, or the hook on a cable, that inventor was truly an original artist tasked with combining functionality and aesthetics into a desirable tool for a specific purpose.
As a western Montana sheep rancher, what inspires me is not the entire contrivance, but rather a segment of it; some portion where the artistic side of the inventor stepped forward to add a touch of grace to an otherwise mundane tool. Sometimes it’s a gentle curve where a straight section would have worked just as well. Sometimes it’s a flowing form or the angle of an arch. Sometimes it’s just the small portion that has been worn smooth by the grasp of rough hands over multiple hours of use. Sometimes it’s merely a scrap that’s endured the ravages of the weather and the high mountain sun.
Rather than reconstruct the entire device, I mimic that intriguing section, that marriage of art and utility, and combine it with other forms to recreate it as an entirely dissimilar object with a wholly different function. The lines of a well-designed spout on an old oil can might be recreated as a handle for a teapot or the rim on a serving platter. The shape of a funnel might work well in an entirely separate situation.
Other times I find inspiration in the photographic images of the past. Silent faces staring out from sepia tone photographs practically cry out with a story to tell, but their voices have fallen silent and their movements have been cut short. Even the artists and the inventors themselves return to the earth along with all they have designed and all that they have made. Most will be totally forgotten. But, before they vanish, we still have an opportunity to reach out and grasp that image or that object and appreciate the moment of artistic flare that made it what it once was, an item to behold and to cherish.
Inspired by segments of items, the memories, the images, the shapes, and the surfaces of past aspects of ranching and living in Montana, my one-of-a-kind designs are free from the monotony and the grasp of mass-production. I frequently use wood and sheep dung in primitive, open pit firings, which last several days, to mimic the onslaught of the years. The glazing method I recurrently use was first invented by the Greeks. Juxtaposing copper, iron, or other materials further guarantees the singularity of each handmade creation.
All that being said, sometimes I just make what I want and the motives can be myriad. Nevertheless, the uniqueness and allure is born of the fusion of iron and clay, fire and earth, form and functionality.
Jim Ellingson
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