Jim Whalen (NC), Paradox Pottery Vessel

Horse Shoe, North Carolina, 2003, wheel-thrown raku pottery, ovoid form burnished with organic marbled patterned finish, signed and dated to the underside.

8 x 10 3/4 x 10 3/4 in.

The Contemporary Art Collection of Francine & Benson Pilloff, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Jim Whalen owns and operates Paradox Pottery in Western North Carolina. He describes his own unique creative process and approach to his craft:
"My pots are wheel thrown, burnished, and coated with terra sigillata. After bisque firing, patterns and images are created with wax resist. The pots then go through a two stage firing process:
The first is a low temperature salt firing; the second a sawdust firing. Both firings produce random chaotic markings on the surface of each pot. The wax resist separates the effects caused by each process into distinct areas giving definition to the patterns without losing the vitality of chaos. The patterns are like songs, each pot, a live performance. The songs are about the mystery and magic of the paradox, the great void and the creative impulse and the membrane of imagination. My subject matter is not of this world but rather where and how it’s created."

Jim's work is in the collections of the Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina; City of Mesa, Mesa, Arizona; and the Rocky Mount Art Museum, Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Jim received a BFA in Ceramics from East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina and pursued a Graduate Studies and Teaching Fellowship from 1970-1972.

Good estate condition.