Artist Statement
Anja Jamrozik is a Montreal-based studio ceramist who uses pottery wheel and hand-building techniques to create functional and decorative pieces. Born in Poland and raised in the USA, Anja discovered her love for ceramics the first time she tried her hand at the pottery wheel. Working predominantly with porcelain, Anja crafts simple but refined pieces that incorporate painterly techniques, whether in the application of glaze or in painted illustration. She draws on the twenty thousand years of ceramics history for inspiration while exploring new variations on shapes and themes. Using a deliberately constrained palette, Anja creates collections of pieces that can complement one another on any tabletop.
What are my ceramics like?
Simple
Elegant, light in feeling, with room to breathe. Relatively sparse. Tending toward the minimal.
Add too much detail and a piece ends up busy. Take away too much and things get boring fast. It’s a constant back-and-forth between “go for it” and “don’t overdo it”.
I use a deliberately constrained palette so that pieces from different series naturally complement one another.
Spontaneous
Ceramics is not a fast practice. Throwing, trimming, and glazing are all spread out over weeks for a single piece. But, at each step there’s a chance to make the practice creative and spontaneous. To move the clay this way or that. To make a brush mark by feeling rather than by plan. To let a drip drip.
Movement can be captured on a piece’s surface. I often incorporate painterly techniques, whether in the application of glaze or in painted illustration.
Higher risk, higher reward. The pieces that come out are more likely to feel easy.
Made to be touched
Unlike many art forms, ceramics offers a tactile experience.
Whether functional or decorative, I make pieces that are made to be touched. Smooth, sleek, squeaky, bumpy, heavy, light. These are pieces you want to pick up and hold.
“Education”
No BFA or MFA here, but I have loved learning to make art through various formal and informal experiences.
Some highlights:
Painting
Painting classes at Northwestern University. I was able to take undergrad classes for free during my PhD, so I took every painting class on offer with some amazing artists and teachers (like Judy Ledgerwood!). I discovered a love of buttery oil paint and turp-y washes. My oil paint obsession is currently on ice with tiny kids around, waiting to be reignited in a few years.
Printmaking
Printmaking at the Visual Arts Centre in Montreal. Monotype, what a dream. Any activity involving a brush and an element of chance is a “yes” for me.
If you’re curious what monotype mania feels like, here’s an anecdote about Degas:
“Degas is no longer a friend, a man, or an artist!” Marcellin Desboutin wrote in 1876. “He’s a zinc or copper plate blackened with printer’s ink, and plate and man are flattened together by his printing press, whose mechanism has swallowed him completely. The man’s crazes are out of this world.”
The printing press and a kiln share some similarities, chief among them the element of surprise on the other side.
Pottery
Pottery at Atelier Make. I knew I’d spend the rest of my life spinning balls of clay within minutes of starting my first wheel class. When you know, you know. The obsession was immediate. I now use the same studio space to make work.
And let’s not forget the best teacher in the world, Youtube. I’ve learned more pottery techniques from Youtube videos than anywhere else. The variety of ways people can execute a seemingly simple action is a never-ending inspiration.