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Jeni Hansen Gard grew up in a small bed and breakfast in Grand Haven, Michigan. She has an integrative art practice that focuses on using the ceramic vessel as a catalyst for bringing people together, often asking participants to reconsider their relationship to food and each other. Using this combination of craft and engagement as an avenue to pursue her research interest in ethnobotany (the human plant relationship), she is working to challenge our current food system and instead help build an equitable and sustainable future. Her community-focused approach to ceramics and education led her to become a founding member of the Socially Engaged Craft Collective, a craft and social practice organization. She received her MFA from Ohio State University and MA in Art Education from the University of Florida. Jeni was the recipient of the MJ Wood DO GOOD residency at Red Lodge Clay Center and recently completed residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation, Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center in Skælskør, Denmark, Denison University, and Wesleyan College. Currently, she is taking a foray into the land of textiles.
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Artist Statement
I began my work as a vessel maker and now define myself as an experience maker with vessel in hand. I see myself as a facilitator working in the space between people and the food they consume.
The ceramic vessel mediates between the human body and the food we consume. My work focuses on the moment of human interaction, the touch, and the intimate connection. I am interested in the interrelationship that forms between people, through the vessel in the presence of food consumed.
It is through the soil of the earth all growth and life form. The soil is used to cultivate plants whereas clay when dug from the earth allows for the creation of form. I am captivated by the tactility of clay, as I am able to create vessels that demonstrate the way the body moves and how clay responds to the touch of my hands. In my practice, I view similarly the transformation of clay into form and seed into plant. In the end both connect in unison at the table.
My goal as an artist is to strike a balance between a growing practice that brings me to the greenhouse and gardens, an art practice that explores the ceramic vessel, and a social practice that brings the vessel, plant, and people together shaping shared experiences.
I began my work as a vessel maker and now define myself as an experience maker with vessel in hand. I see myself as a facilitator working in the space between people and the food they consume.
The ceramic vessel mediates between the human body and the food we consume. My work focuses on the moment of human interaction, the touch, and the intimate connection. I am interested in the interrelationship that forms between people, through the vessel in the presence of food consumed.
It is through the soil of the earth all growth and life form. The soil is used to cultivate plants whereas clay when dug from the earth allows for the creation of form. I am captivated by the tactility of clay, as I am able to create vessels that demonstrate the way the body moves and how clay responds to the touch of my hands. In my practice, I view similarly the transformation of clay into form and seed into plant. In the end both connect in unison at the table.
My goal as an artist is to strike a balance between a growing practice that brings me to the greenhouse and gardens, an art practice that explores the ceramic vessel, and a social practice that brings the vessel, plant, and people together shaping shared experiences.