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Melodee Joy Jackson | Episode 756

Melodee Joy Jackson is a Michigan-based potter who works with high-fire stoneware. Melodee sometimes etches images into her pottery, such as panoramic views of houses and city scapes. Currently Melodee is making pieces with sculpture, whether that be shallow relief grapes on a chalice or a life-size frog on top of a jar.

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How much time do you put into one of your pieces?

For the smaller bowls and stuff probably about 30 hours of carving but for Pearl it was about 450 hours all together.

That’s just for the carving portion?

No, that was for coil and throw, carving, and glazing.

And how did you keep track of all that time?

Well, I had people ask me before I made Pearl, How much time did this take? Usually they are not the super artsy people, they are the just curious people and I was making Pearl for Art Prize, which is something that is held in Grand Rapids. And so I knew that I would be talking to a lot of people who aren’t really familiar with art and it would probably mean a lot to them to know how long it took me. And I was also curious for myself. So I just recorded that hours every day.  (which came to 450 hours)

How do you define creativity?

I don’t know if I have a definition but I do know that when I do something creative I feel like I put a lot of work in but God has given me some kind of seed, like he’s given me the gift or whatever and something beautiful happens, or I get a beautiful idea and I feel like it is a gift from God.

Do you see your creativity bleed into your work of teaching English as a second language?

I think it is different forms of creativity. I think most people or possibly everyone is creative in some way. Like I know someone who is a math teacher and  he is very creative with the word problems he forms for these kids and they are fun and engaging. But he would say so himself, he has very little skill in art, so I feel like we all have different forms of creativity and I wouldn’t say it kind of bleeds over from one to the other but we just have different sets of creative skills.

What do you do when you have a little block of free time?

I probably do pottery. I find something to fill the time. I write letters to friends. On Sunday I don’t do work but I write letters to friends and I like spending time with close friends. I am an introvert so I am not out partying but I do like spending time with people who are close to me.

Book

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Contact

Instagram: @joyjaxceramics