Mary Ann Crabtree

After making a fair number of these canning jar forms, I have come to perceive them metaphorically as anthropomorphic forms. In summers past, family members came home to Mexico with their empty Perfect Mason canning jars to pack them with local fruit and vegetables. I was introduced to many of my extended family because of these excursions.
My work reveals an admiration for and a desire to preserve things that build up and help a society thrive. I use worn, utilitarian furniture as display furniture for individually thrown colorful ceramic jars that are modelled after today’s commonplace Mason home canning jar—a jar whose design has been modified multiple times until declared “PERFECT” as often identified on commercially produced glass jars. 

Some of the groupings emphasize the process of home canning as well as the people involved in the process. The younger and older generations are dependent on each other to retain information that is necessary for surviving and thriving. One grouping, “PERFECT” Perspective, is a reminder that only after considering the whole picture, it becomes possible to be properly informed.

A: So far, the hardest part of my BFA project has been writing about it; however, in the beginning and throughout the creative process, “what to do” with the jar form itself was another challenge. After consultation with my BFA peers and professors, I discarded ideas of modifying the form and discovered I was left with the only alternative I could see: naked appropriation. I could work to replicate the form, but to make it interesting as an exhibit, I would need to make a lot of jars—200 minimum—and make the exhibit conceptual. After making well over 200 jars, I’ve not perfected the form to my satisfaction, but I’m gratified that I’ve made improvements and see where I can make further refinements. 
I limited my glazes to mostly solid colors and a glossy finish as a clear reference to the inspiration for the form. Antique glass Mason jars vary in color, size, and shape for both the bottle and the lid design; nevertheless, they are made from molds making each batch essentially identical. I considered using molds made from original glass jars, but I wanted to throw each jar on the wheel.  As a result, each jar is unique in size and shape.  The “PERFECT” lettering on some of the jars is the result of experimenting with a sprig mold. The lids are colored with low-fire glaze, or slip with stain, terra sigillata, and an iron oxide wash. The jars are glazed with either cone 6 commercial glazes or cone 6 glaze recipes I’ve replicated and modified from the ingredients available in the ceramics lab. I’ve also thrown most of the jars as closed—sealed—forms which required adding a venting hole so they wouldn’t explode in the kiln. For the jars that open, I’ve designed the lids as caps or with a flange. If and when I make lids able to function like a Mason jar lid, then my attempt at appropriation will be closer to the mark. 

A: For me, the work of two artists in particular is very engaging: I consider sculptor Barbara Hepworth and ceramic artist Hans Coper’s work elegant in its simplicity.

A: In my early meetings with my ceramic and sculpture professors, I learned that I could continue to pursue my hand-building strength with coils and slabs; however, it would be important to work consistently to create something, and that the theme for my project would eventually reveal itself. I found this to be counterintuitive, but they assured me it would work best that way. After presenting some rough sketches, it was determined that the jar was an interesting form I could pursue—if I wanted to pursue it. For a few reasons, I wasn’t completely convinced.  Everyone knows what a Mason jar looks like. Successfully using the ubiquitous home-canning Mason jars in art exhibits has been done on more than one occasion.  Another challenge was that I’ve never been a production potter. I’ve been more comfortable hand-building in part because I’ve had limited access to a pottery wheel; however, since my first unpleasant experience with exceedingly groggy clay and the pottery wheel back in high school, I’ve wanted to feel at ease throwing pots. Ultimately, the thought of having the chance to repeat a form with the opportunity to improve was too tempting to dismiss.