Jill Lawley

American, b. 1971

Cogs
2005

Stoneware
2.25 x 6.5 x 6.5 in.
Museum Purchase with the Charter Member Endowment Fund and Gift of the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation
2005.42.1-40

Lawley’s handbuilt and thrown works emphasize the process of their construction and the aesthetics of repetition, as she pays homage to factory remnants. Strong angular forms are predominant features in industrial design and are incorporated in her construction methods for Cogs. This collection of forty press-molded stoneware triangles—rounded, with triangular holes—show how their surfaces can be transformed through age, wear, and the environment. Each piece was treated with a different firing process (gas-reduction, wood, soda—with some being refired until the desired surface was achieved). They have a variety of glaze and texture treatments, such as wood ash, flame, stains, satin or matte glazes, organic inclusions, and dry stoneware. The colors range from golden to burgundy, dark brown, black, gray, and blue-gray.

Jill Lawley discovered her love of pottery when she was required to take a three-credit art class in order to finish her undergraduate degree, and she’s been deeply involved with the medium ever since. She holds a BFA in ceramics from the University of Wisconsin at River Falls (1999) and an MFA from Utah State University (2005). She has experience firing wood, soda, salt, and gas kilns, and is now working in oxidation electric firing. Each piece continues to be one of a kind. Prior to establishing her studio, Boise Mud Works, in 2009, Lawley taught ceramics at Boise State University, the University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin River Falls, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (Gatlinburg, Tennessee), and Lakeside Pottery in Madison, Wisconsin.

Billie Sessions, PhD.

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This object was included in the following exhibitions:

• ReImagine|ARTsySTEM: Expanding Ideas of Artistic Response to Environment , 6/9/2015 - 7/23/2015
• Intermediate Ceramics: Handbuilding , 10/5/2015 - 1/26/2016
• Unearthed , 8/23/2022 - 5/14/2023

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