David Jones
Location
United Kingdom
About
David Jones was awarded his PhD by Manchester Metropolitan University; his undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Literature was awarded by the University of Warwick. He was a Senior Academic in the Ceramics Department at the University of Wolverhampton for the past thirty years. He is the elected representative on the global Council of the IAC, the UNESCO affiliated International Academy of Ceramics, for the UK, Ireland and Benelux countries, and an elected Fellow of the Crafts Potter Association of the UK. He has more recently developed a practice in curating international exhibitions. His work is represented in many international collections.
His theoretical work includes many papers delivered at international conferences and the authoring of two books: Firing – Philosophies within contemporary ceramic practice (2007); Raku, Investigations into Fire (1999).
His artistic practice addresses the ways in which ceramic processes can be employed to communicate meaning. He has developed an international reputation in the development of low-temperature firing methodologies, specifically Raku, but also in the ways that fired surface can be used for sculptural expression.
Since 2002 the work has involved an installation practice that has seen the development of a ceramic language to address issues of identity through interventions in gallery spaces.
Artist Statement
This paper will argue that the ‘handmade’ is more necessary than ever in an age of extreme change and will examine the distinct qualities it embodies, that allow it to speak to us today.
The research is centred on the nature of the negative space of the hand – the space of holding and containment that in human evolution became the basis and reference to all vessels. Through a theoretical framework of Practice as Research, it will examine the ideas that underlie being Human by utilising Freud’s concept of “the Uncanny” to arrest our attention in the experience of the work (which has been enlarged in scale through digital ‘manipulation’). As interventions, they disrupt our assumptions regarding scale and ‘normality’ in the everyday.
Central to this thesis are arguments surrounding originality and authorship; these are the very qualities that are being subjected to scrutiny, and even abuse, by recent developments in AI technology, where many artists are finding their works stolen and plagiarised. The paper will argue that while some AI development can be viewed as retroactive, nonetheless other developments allow the artist to open new domains of creativity.