JANA LAWTON
Ceramic Arts, (530) 894-1843 – lawton@sunset.net -The Art House, Studio visit by appt – chicoarthouse.com

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Clay has been Jana’s medium of choice since, as an undergraduate at the University of Iowa, she discovered how exciting it was to use. In a more than 30-year career, she has tried it in all its various forms. Earthenware, because it is fired in the kiln at lower temperatures, allows her to work with glazes of brilliant colors. Stoneware, more durable than earthenware, is beautiful and earthy. Porcelain, however, is the clay that captivated her. Porcelain is strong, pliable, pure, and a fine-grained clay that allows her to make very refined and delicate work.

Her ceramic sculptures make use of clay’s ability to drape and fold and take on myriad textures. It is a perfect palette for her ideas. Sometimes, she knows exactly what she wants to create before starting, as with her “Dress” series. However, most sculptures start with rolling out a slab of clay with a rolling pin. The creative process takes over somehow and she ends up with a new sculpture—all very quickly. Clay affords that spontaneity.

Jana also has an interest in recycling and her mosaics utilize her own broken pottery shards and other interesting found objects.