James Berry, an assistant professor of art at Lyon College, will present his exhibit, Improbus Utilitatem, at University of the Ozarks throughout the month of March as part of the University’s Artist of the Month Series.
Berry’s exhibit will run from Feb. 27 through March 30 in the Stephens Gallery, located in the Walton Fine Arts Center. There will be a reception to meet the artist from 5-6 p.m. on March 30, in the gallery.
Berry has been working as a sculptor since 2009 where he also gained training as a studio technician. Working with both ceramic art pieces, and the kilns that fired them, he began experimenting with conventional techniques used in unconventional ways; taking near white-hot ceramics out of kiln and placing it into a wood holder for example.
His approach to clay has buried humor in each piece, often plays with concepts such as human relationships, and is directly influenced by both utilitarian and sculptural techniques and methods of working. Starting late into 2022, he began exploring the idea of conceptual meta-relationships leading to his current work.
Ceramics has always been associated with utility (pottery, electronics, power- lines, cellphones), yet his work is frequently sculptural. The current series plays with the idea of clay having a “new” kind of purpose with a falsely implied sense of utility.
Berry said that it wasn’t until he began working at Lyon College in Batesville, Ark., building a ceramics department that he realized how fascinating it is that some of the oldest tools associated with ceramics is ceramics.
“Lyon allowed me to build a makeshift wood kiln and to adapt multiple electric kilns to gas-fired,” he said. “This included buying burners for the kilns, repairing the burners, and then creating my own from scratch when the bought ones were found to be inadequate. The process of converting an electric kiln into a gas kiln involves using refractory material, which includes a good portion of clay, to coat the inside, once again using ceramics, as a tool, for ceramics.”
Berry said that clay, ceramics in particular, has been associated with utility since the point in time that the Venus of Willendorf was being created in the hands of an artist.
“The purpose of the utility ranges from religious worship to bio-medical procedures and everything in between,” he said. “This utilitarian understanding is still seen today in the form of pottery, cellphones, and all other technology that uses clay in any capacity. All of these experiences led back to the original concept of relationships, but with an added layer. Despite clay having such a rich history of conventional utility I sculpt using clay as my primary medium. This is most often not food safe nor are they intended to be used for food or drink, however they still have a purpose, a utility of sorts. I wanted a body of work that explores the relationship between utility and non-utility alongside the other material-based relationships. Add to the mix that I have been working with burners and other fire-related tools, a natural progression would be to bring into my work a ceramic tool that, supposedly, helps to fire other ceramic pieces. I could even add a negative connotation to the relationship between the burner and a holder, suggesting a long relationship from antiquity.”
“And thus came this work so far. Pieces that individually discuss utility, relationships between parts, and somewhat poke fun at themselves for their implied, but lacking of, direct utility. The name of the exhibition, Improbus Utilitatem, is directly translated as ‘dishonest utility’ to reflect this little bit of humor.”
Berry earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Montevallo in Alabama and his master’s degree from the University of South Carolina. He was named the 2022 Alpha Chi Professor of the Year at Lyon College.
Topics: Art, Community Events