ARTIST STATEMENT

The moment my hands met clay, I lost my words. All sound evaporated into the whirl and screech of my potter's wheel. I fell in love with the way clay demanded me to lose everything I had been trained to do. As a teacher and a poet, clay begs you to sink into the earth & welcome the consequence and challenge of physical and visceral vulnerability.

My obsession with clay began after having my first baby. I suddenly felt like I needed to make something with my hands. This act of creating is intimate. It taught me how to be by myself.  Icky Love was born at a time when I was recovering from the physical and emotional toll the birth of my second baby took on my body. I have been shaped and reshaped by motherhood. Icky Love is the result of the creative shifts in life and the new forms that emerge from my connection with bodies, nature, and language.

Each piece that appears here was made in my home studio, inspired by the beautiful surroundings of Kaaawa valley, the rural town on the island of Oahu where I live. Whether wheel thrown or hand-built, every item is a one-of-a-kind art piece. I make things to be held and comforted by, things inspired by the cracks and fissures of Hawaii's landscapes, things that play with the magical abilities of space and movement...I hope you enjoy them.

Love,

Jaimie

founder of Icky Love Pottery