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Jolene Hewison | Episode 757
Jolene Hewison is a ceramicist working from the beautiful Margaret River Region in Western Australia. Jolene’s work is design focused, with the aim of incorporating both aesthetic and functional qualities in interesting ways. Jolene loves the idea of making work that can feel special and be of use in every day life.
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Why is having a sense of wonder such an important part of creativity?
I think it is a motivating factor for me because there are so many different variables available in design and if you just change the matrix a little here and there you are going to get a different outcome and so I am just always thinking What if? and What if that happened? and What if I change that? and What if I added that thing over there with this? It is kind of following a rambling stream of little wonderings , I suppose. Just to see what happens at the end. It’s like an exploration and it’s interesting and it’s fun and it’s uncomfortable and I have always been drawn to processes which have elements that are out of my control because it is so much more exciting to open up the kiln or pull off the form work or whatever it is to see something you are not quite expecting. I love that.
Does mastery eventually thwart wonder?
That’s such a good question. Mastery is also the goal, I suppose. I really wanted to get things right and get to a point but it is almost as soon as I get to that I’ve moved on. I like to do it and I am happy to have done it and it is satisfying but my mind is already elsewhere.
Does that mean that novelty is a prime motivator for a sense of wonder?
Yes, I suppose it is because if I have already done it and I know how to do it it’s done, I have already got the answers and so I still can enjoy it and I still do like to revisit things for various reasons, but it is definitely the new stuff and the new explorations and trying things I haven’t seen and done before is definitely where my greatest interest lies.
Do you find that if you take the things that you have mastered and weave in the novelty of something new, that that becomes a greater jumping off point?
Absolutely. It’s almost always like that really, like it’s taking something I know as I go on and on and on I suppose my depth of knowledge is getting wider and so I can have more leaping points and drawing new things little bit by little bit and make little tweaks. Quite often I will have say, I don’t know, 6 months to decorate and I will say, It makes sense to do a batch. Everything is easier if you’ve got multiples. And then I just can’t help myself that number 2 I will tweak a variable and change something and I will kind of tell myself off at the end. Usually it means I’ve learnt something new by the end of that whole process and even if it is something that I wouldn’t do again. You know, it’s just a much richer way to continue developing my understanding of this vast craft.
Do you ever step out of your own shoes and step into the shoes of a ceramic civilian who doesn’t really know the process? Do you ever try to look at yourself through their eyes and be blown away by what you can do?
No, but I have had a little bit of thinking about that lately as I have started workshops and it has me casting my mind back regularly to what it was like to be really new in this. I have been so in it so deeply for the last few years, as I have started to do teaching now it has reminded me how amazing those first introductory classes are and how beautiful that very first learning experience is and then realizing that I have come a ways and it’s been such a nice scene to have that settled feeling that I have got something that I can pass on now and share with people.
Do you need to slow down in your making process so that you can still find those little places where you can veer off?
Yeah, I don’t really take orders very often any more so quite a lot of my work now is up to me to do what I want to do. And I really try to reserve roughly around twenty percent of my work for just complete playfulness. I think it is really important for me as a creative but also for my personal development. I don’t know it may also, I suppose, that people have come to expect that from me and I can I suppose. Maybe there is some of that in it as well but the playfulness is really important to me.
Do you ever see yourself moving away from the town that you made yourself home in now or do you say, Nope, this is my final spot. ?
You know, I just can’t imagine moving from here. There’s a few other places that I have lived in the world that I would be happy to go back to for a period. I loved living in Canada. I loved living in New Zealand. I love travel, but there is no other place that I have found which ticks all the boxes for me like Margaret River. Community wise, the people in my life are amazing, my family, my dogs, it’s got everything that I need.
Book
The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton
Contact
Instagram: @river.ceramics