Jessica Kanaley

"Feeling Good," one of Jessica's most recent sculptures, incorporates printed words into a cartoonish animal skull. Jessica created a screen from a fragment of typography found in a discarded self-help book to add a provocative non sequitur to this piece.If you were a patron of her work, you might mount one piece on your wall, then ponder its meaning as you sip your coffee from a mug Jessica made as well.

A ceramicist based in Middlesex, NY, where she works as an artist in residence at the Rochester Folk Art Guild, Jessica calls her work Old Soul Clay. And this old soul puts a lot of heart into two very different sides of her work: sculpture and pottery.

“I focus on the pursuit of both sculptural and functional ceramics,” Jessica says, adding that ceramics is a form of language for her. She's building her vocabulary by the day, too.

Jessica

On the sculptural side, her work speaks in vaguely familiar shapes from the natural world. Jessica often incorporates a variety of materials into the clay—from fragments of print to found objects to metal.

“My sculptures carry a satirical overtone,” she says, adding that she likes to play with themes of childhood bliss and lost innocence. For instance, her fondness for comics is a source of inspiration for her work.

“I approach clay with a highly stylized surface treatment and ornamentation,” she says.

“My more recent explorations have been in combining media. I use printmaking as a decorative element, sometimes making original stamps I design as a surface treatment. Other times, like in Feeling Good, I make a copy of text onto a screen, then I transfer it onto the surface.”

On the functional pottery side, Jessica's signature style blends earthy, primitive colors and textures with elegant patterns.On the functional side, Jessica has created a warm, inviting collection of pottery that includes cups, teapots and pitchers, and speaks to the basic needs met by folk art.

A Nazareth College grad with an art education degree, she established Old Soul Clay in the fall of 2009, and took up residence at the Folk Art Guild artists' community in May 2010.

“I was interested in participating in a residency or apprenticeship for many years,” Jessica says. “I saw a listing for the guild, realized how close it was to Rochester, and went for a visit during their open house. From there, I began working in pottery a couple of times a month and finally decided to move to the guild full time.”

This primitive dress sculpture is made from local pond clay. “One initiative that we have been pursuing at the guild is a more grassroots approach to pottery, using local clays,” Jessica says. “We have been experimenting with digging up clays from our pond and surrounding areas. The results are phenomenal.”Jessica makes her pottery and sculpture for the guild to sell at their collectives shows and gallery, open for spring and summer.