Found Art: Wind Vessel by Jennifer McCurdy

Photograph by Gary Mirando

When she was in high school, artist Jennifer McCurdy was drawn to clay because “it was messy,” she says. She would often stay after school to labor over her potter’s wheel while her art teacher watched nearby.

Now McCurdy spends several hours a day in her home studio on Martha’s Vineyard testing the limits of her medium—experimenting with how thin she can shape the porcelain and how much she can extract from a piece while maintaining its structural integrity. For McCurdy, inspiration comes from the process of making itself: “The vision evolves with my exploration of the materials.”

This piece, Wind Vessel, was wheel-thrown, altered, carved, and fired to cone 10 (more than 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit), carefully positioned in the kiln to encourage the porcelain to slump in the desired direction. Through this vessel, McCurdy seeks to emphasize the material’s many beautiful qualities, especially its translucence.

Wind Vessel, wheel-thrown-and-carved porcelain, $2,100, Sherrie Gallerie, sherriegallerie.com.