Jaime Jenkins, Stone Age

Stone Age is the first large-scale solo exhibition of Jaime Jenkins stoneware at Jhana Millers and continues Jaime’s explorations into the possibilities of clay. 

Jaime hand-builds pieces that are not confined to any definitions of what clay can and should do. Teetering on the edges of functionality and fragility, her works often take on organic and intricate forms. Things that are not traditionally made with the hard and fragile material, or that create movement and sound, such as chains or bells are frequent subjects in Jaime's practice.

Jaime is also interested in pushing the structural capabilities of clay — constructing dense architectural pieces that can be used as stools, shelves and tables, or works that simply exist in isolation as large sculptures. Taking months to dry and with many succumbing in the kiln at the final stage, Jaime is still learning the extent to which she can push the material.

A main source of inspiration for Jaime is her experiences of nature and natural forms, which she translates into her stoneware. Jaime speaks of feeling 'filled up by nature' when she spends time in the landscape — out for a bush walk or diving into a water hole. The glazes and slips Jenkins uses are earthy and celestial, reflecting this deep attachment to the environment. Starry blues, forest-floor greens and deep grounding reds are some of the colours Jenkins has chosen for the pieces that make up Stone Age.

Jenkins has an Advanced Diploma of Visual Arts in Ceramics from Toi Ohomai, Bay of Plenty. The artist has also completed internships in Aotearoa and London and recently completed a residency at Driving Creek Pottery in the Coromandel.

In early 2020 Jenkins exhibited Break a Fig as part of the Fired Up Festival of Ceramics and also presented her work in the accompanying symposium. Other recent exhibitions of Jenkins’ work were at the Dowse Art Museum, Wellington (Dirty Ceramics, 2020), SPA_CE Gallery, Napier (on the verge of blue, 2019), Michael Lett and Ivan Anthony, Auckland (Gestamtkünstwerk, 2019), and Jhana Millers (Salt Pillars, 2019 and Summer Selection, 2020).