Last week ended on an icy cold note for me when the heat failed in my little room over the ocean.  Five layers of clothing, an electric heating pad and lots of jumping around kept me going until it was restored late Friday night.  It’s a new week, I’m toasty warm and I have so much to share with you – beginning with Jason Walker’s ceramic sculptures.

Through these narrative sculptures Walker explores our culture’s ideas about nature and how technology has changed our perception of nature. The unique way he combines mastery over materials, detailed imagery and a jarring perspective results in a thought provoking body of work.

Stacking A Skyline, ceramic

Stacking A Skyline, back

“According to Webster’s dictionary, nature is something in its essential form untouched and untainted by human hand. So here lies the crux of my quest. At the very heart of our own description of nature we exclude ourselves from it. Does this mean I am not natural? Although this argument may seem purely semantic it is not. The way in which we perceive nature inadvertently describes the way in which we perceive ourselves. Ultimately, my quest is a journey to define for myself what it means to be human in the present time.” Jason Walker

“Light bulbs, plugs, power-lines and pipes that grow from the earth are common images found in my work, juxtaposed with birds, insects, and organic matter such as leaves and trees. Similar to the thinking of the Hudson River School of painting, I attempt to portray nature’s vastness and humankind as a small proponent of it. Yet I draw the small things of nature large and the huge creations of man small. I want to show how we influence the landscape, or nature. My ideas stem from my own experiences bicycle touring, backpacking and the daily hikes I take with my dog.” Jason Walker

Desert Frog, ceramic

Jason Walker

More images at Ferrin Gallery