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Jonah Harjer | Episode 1038
Jonah Harjer is a Michigan based ceramic artist. His work is highly decorated intricate designs through the use of stamps and decals. Jonah’s stamps and decals have became central to his art. His process uses photo polymere printable plates to impress into the surface of his work.
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How much time in general are you investing into each cup?
I am investing, in general, I am going to say about two and half hours into each cup.
That is a chunk of time.
It is and that depends on the cup because there are some that are more time than that. I am not making those right now. I haven’t made any of those for about a year, but in average about two and half hours goes into a cup.
Do you make a series and then after you have done enough cups do you throw the plates away so they can’t be repeated or do you save them for the future? Are you making in series?
So that’s a great question. It’s the Dutch in me okay, I don’t throw them away and I know what you mean. I see people who do a lot of ceramic molds who retire their molds after awhile and I understand and I don’t know anything about those but as far as these plates go I have never thrown any of them away because for me they don’t seem to break down. They last and last and last. Sometimes I want to come back to a plate for a little particular reason and it’s nice to have those available.
How important for your work is a spray booth?
So a spray booth is very important for my work. I should add that last summer was the first time that I ever sprayed any kind of underglaze or paint or anything. I had bought a cheap Harbor Freight ten dollar paint sprayer a couple of years back and it sat on my shelf forever. I was watching other potters spraying and finally I decided to pick it up last summer and now I have bought another one and I have an air brush gun as well. I even built a spray booth last fall so I didn’t have to do an outdoor set up.
Unique is one of the words I would use to describe your work. Is unique a goal or is it result of your creative approach?
Wow, that’s a great question. I would say it is definitely a result. Definitively because I will often times start out with a goal but it ends up just being a result. Yeah, that’s really interesting, I’ve never thought about that. And as I am answering your question I am going to say it is a little bit of both I suppose. Somewhere in the deep down back of my mind there is part of me that wants to make something different. I always tell people I am making work that I don’t see and that I would like to buy. That’s really what it is.
How are your handles made?
So my handles are all extruded. I can pull handles. I prefer not to. For me, the reason I extrude my handles is because a hand pulled handle is great, but it’s not for me. It’s not the thing that makes my mug what it is. The ones that you are seeing that are stamped, I am taking that same handle and pressing it between two plates and then it squishes it. That’s why they look like that.
How do you keep your heart enthusiastic and in love when there is the daily grind of making work?
From a few different places. One is from the sort of cumulative memory of all the jobs in my life that I have not enjoyed and I am fifty years old and I have had quite a few. And then the other side of it is that I know the alternative, I know what else I could be doing and it’s not appealing to me. I don’t know, I suppose it’s a daily reminder that I could be doing other things. And even when it’s not going so great it’s better than X, Y, and Z and that is enough for me. It keeps me coming back. It really does. And my wife is really supportive an my family is supportive so if I am really having a dark day I can always call them and they can remind me where the light is.
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