Jacksonville Review – November 2024

THE FIRST THING you may notice when you meet Hamish Jackson is the lilt in his voice, nurtured in the English Midlands, where he grew up and learned to love clay. But it wasn’t easy, he says. At the beginning of his try-out in clay at the legendary Winchcombe Pottery, he had to make hundreds of nearly identical four-inch bowls before one finally satisfied the master potter overseeing his work; the rest were smashed and the clay reclaimed.

Having scored a 4-year apprenticeship with esteemed potter Mark Hewitt, he moved to North Carolina in 2014. There Hamish literally learned pottery-making from the ground-up—digging clay from natural deposits, turning rocks to a slurry called “slip” from which to make glazes, and splitting timber for the wood-fired kiln that toasted the raw pots at 2350 degrees (or as they say in England, 1287 Celsius).

What did Hamish love so much about all this labor? For him, “pottery is place.” He loves using local materials that he fashions into pots. But he can also tell you stories about how and where he dug those materials from the earth and made them into mugs, plates, pitchers, teapots, and other functional vessels. You can see those pots, hear those stories, and listen to a voice of the Midlands in an online video made by one of his neighbors at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_sLvGmS6G4&t=2s.

Now that Hamish lives in Oregon, where does he get his materials? Mostly from a day’s radius from his new home near Pleasant Hill, just east of Eugene. One huge adjustment, from his potter’s perspective, is that the natural materials he trained with in the English Midlands came from minerals deposited eons ago on the seafloor, while in Oregon, the local minerals come from an entirely different menu served up by the volcanoes of the Cascade and Coast Ranges. You might ask Hamish how that has influenced his recent work!

Where does he get the ideas for his art? When you look at his pots, perhaps you can discern influences from the places he has studied: not only in England but in the centuries-old pottery cultures of North Carolina, Thailand, and Japan. Most recently, he stopped off at Utah State University to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree (in pottery, of course!).

Hamish’s clay art will be on display and for purchase at the Clayfolk Show and Sale, scheduled for November 22nd-24th in the Medford Armory—the weekend before Thanksgiving. But you can preview his work anytime on his website at https://www.hamishjacksonpottery.com/.

By the way, he pronounces his name as HAME-ish.

Of course, while you’re at the Clayfolk Show and Sale, you’ll want to see the work of more than seventy other clay artists displaying wares of all sizes, colors, and shapes. You will find whimsical raku, colorful earthenware, stolid stoneware mugs and bowls, delicate porcelain sculptures, and much more!

As always, there will be amazing demonstrations of “throwing” on the potter’s wheel and other clay-fabrication techniques. All the artists in the Clayfolk Show will be there in person and eager to talk with you about their craft.

So, c’mon over to the Clayfolk Show and Sale at the Medford Armory: 1701 S Pacific Hwy, Medford. It’s just a few blocks west of the South Medford exit from I-5. See ad this page.