Jim Gottuso, Louisville, KY

clay

Jim Gottuso received his BFA in Ceramics/Drawing from Murray State University in 1982 and his MFA in Sculpture from Southern Illinois University in 1986. After graduation, Jim went into business creating commercial 3D computer animation and graphics, but returned to ceramics in 2004.

Jim works with porcelain on the wheel and is interested in achieving what he describes as “elegantly thrown forms.” Although the process is a subjective one, Jim says that “during the dialogue with the clay, I know when I’ve succeeded.”

Jim attempts to create wheel thrown forms that capture the gesture he achieves in drawing. The treatment of the surfaces of his pots is a give and take between control and spontaneity. He admires “the beauty that results from the certainty of mark-making that is derived from endless repetition” and is inspired by sources from abstract expressionism to graffiti. Jim uses a resist as well as etching techniques to achieve a look that is similar to sgraffito (scratching through one color layer to make a line and reveal a second color), but allows for the looseness of brushwork over carving.

Works by Jim Gottuso can be found at the Museum of Art & Craft, Louisville, KY; Goodall Gallery, Louisville, KY, and the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea, Berea, KY.