John Marris
Clay: Body & Stone
Opening Friday, March 3, 6-10pm
March 3 – 26, 2023

Ludmila Gallery
129 1/2 Hunter St. W. 2nd Floor Peterborough ON


Clay: Body and Stone
by John Marris

Clay: Body and Stone is an exhibition of ceramic work that explores the underlying nature of clay as both body-like and malleable, while also emerging from stone or rock and returning to that state through firing.

My intention with this project was to create objects that appear soft, almost fluid, and represent bodies ready for motion, and conversely works that remind us of the very rocks that clay comes from, objects that appear stone-like and carved. The exhibition also explores varying traditions of ceramics both functional vessels and sculptural forms that I have been researching in the last few years. Notably traditions of hand-formed ceramics that have a strong presence in Britain and Japan. I have also continued to connect my pottery with the natural environment of the Kawartha’s by wrapping trees in clay to take impressions of bark and marking my work with natural materials.

All the works in the exhibition are hand-built. Most are pinch-pots and in some cases, they are made from rolled out slabs of clay. I do not use a traditional potter’s wheel which has a strong focus on symmetry and forcing the makers will on the clay. Rather, I like to enter into a negotiation with the clay and explore what forms and shapes emerge through the making process. This results in every piece being unique and for me connects the work to the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, to the idea that there is a particular beauty in asymmetry and imperfection.

There is a joy in being present with this elemental material and forming objects that can be both functional and sculptural. This process of crafting the object is also the process of crafting and making ourselves.

To purchase please send artwork name & details to gallery@ludmilagallery.ca
We’ll get back to you with shipping / pick up options.

To purchase please send artwork name & details to gallery@ludmilagallery.ca
We’ll get back to you with shipping / pick up options.

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Artist Bio
I am a community artist based in Peterborough, Ontario. My work is deeply influenced by the social and physical environment in which I live, and I am committed to a practice that engages with fellow artists and community members in projects that use the arts in community development and social change. A significant part of my professional practice over the past five years has been developing programs that facilitate collaborative making with street-involved youth, mental health patients and people living in poverty.

Over the last four years I have focused strongly on working with clay to create hand-built ceramic pieces both in my own personal practice but also in working with community groups. This work connects with an ethics and philosophy of making the objects of everyday life, and understanding how being responsible for these objects is both an artistic practice and a form of radical presence or meditation. This meditative approach to making connects us both to our oldest human practices and provides a counterpoint to modern, disposable consumerism.

I have had a number of solo and joint exhibitions, and contributed to collective shows and festivals. Solo exhibitions have had a focus on ceramics and the materiality of clay and photography, notably documenting sculpture projects and using photo transfer and poetry to reflect on found images.
John Marris