Exhibition: Jack Doherty

Originally going to Art College as a painter, it was during his foundation year that Jack Doherty discovered ceramics which decided to specialise in for his degree. Initially unsure about his decision to move from painting to ceramics, Jack had his “epiphany” during a visit to Lucie Rie’s studio, her Korean porcelain Moon Jar, he explains, has left an impression which has stayed with him through the years. Inspired by pots from Prehistory, “when clay objects had an essential place both in this life and beyond”, Jack works with just one clay, one colouring mineral and a single firing, stripping away the unessential to produce work with pure quality and depth. When teaching, Jack tells his student to forget everything they know about working with other types of clays, nothing the different chemical, physical and structural qualities of porcelain from the naturally found stoneware and earthenware clays.Jack is drawn its quality of light and colour, particularly its extraordinary white and luminous quality. Having overcome the capriciousness of the material in his early year of working with it, the clays ability to invent new ways to distorting slumping and cracking, Jack now focuses on staying truthful to the nature of the sensual material.