Y A N K E E   L O N D O N  S T U D I O

Musings from a Yankee artist abroad in London...
Moon Jar
Picture
At the British Museum I am circling a case, the case that holds a 17th century Korean moon jar. In addition to the hands that created it, two ceramic luminaries had it in their lives: Bernard Leach, who upon his death bestowed it to Lucie Rie. A non-potter would wonder, "Why this moon jar?" It’s not perfect, clearly lopsided with an awkward joining that slumps with gravity, the rim listing to one side. Remnants of ash speckle the surface (the museum has placed them at the “back“, along with the most prominent iron oxide streak bleeding through the glaze close to the base). You can see the tension in the glaze where the pressure of firing pushed formed earth against the surface glaze. And throughout there are the pits and slips of hands moving across form, disrupted by inclusions in the porcelain. And you wonder at the potter, deep in the cycle of throwing, joining, linking, remaining suspended – committed to the idea, to the tradition, to the form, but really, I think to the doing.
I am thinking of gesture, temporal gestures...
"Embracing counterpoints, like moments of stillness found within chaos, I use a range of materials in my work: drawings, paintings, ceramics, printmaking, video, installation and sculpture."

Romi Sloboda was born in the United States and spent her childhood living in both the United States and her mother's native city, Seoul, Korea. She studied printmaking at the Santa Reparata Graphic Arts Centre in Florence, and received her BFA from Washington University in St. Louis and her MFA from London Metropolitan University. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows throughout the United States as well as in Europe. She has been awarded residencies from the Cité Internationale des Arts Fondation in Paris, the University of Texas at Dallas, and the Herekeke Arts Center in New Mexico. Romi currently lives and works in London, United Kingdom.