Shaking It Up: Functional Fall Artists

This year’s Functional Fall exhibition, Shake It Up, considers our mealtime companions, salt and pepper shakers and pigs. Three exhibiting artists - Jeanne Carreau, Chai Alilharder, and Madison Berry - share more about their work.

This year marks the third annual Functional Fall exhibition, an opportunity to highlight the diverse possibilities of functional ceramics, and to showcase the work of artists from all over the country and at all stages in their careers. The call for entry for Shake It Up asked artists to reflect on salt and pepper shakers and cellars and their place on our tables and in human history. We caught up with three of the artists in the exhibition, Jeanne Carreau, Chai Alilharder, and Madison Berry, to learn more about their approach to Shake It Up.

Jeanne Carreau finds inspiration for her art all around her, including online and in the gallery shows that she attends. Her varied sources of inspiration give Jeanne lots of opportunities to continue challenging herself, thinking through how to reverse engineer the results she wants: “Figuring out how to make something with clay both relaxes me and stimulates me; the process is always my focus rather than the outcome.” Jeanne recalled that she was excited when the call for entry for Shake It Up was announced because of the challenge the project posed. “When the call for salt and pepper shakers came out, I was immediately excited,” Jeanne said, “Making closed forms on the wheel is challenging, and they're perfect for salt and pepper shakers, holding limitless potential for creativity.” Closing forms on the wheel traps air inside that can then be manipulated, and Jeanne shared that this makes closed forms perfect for making animal sculptures, because the forms are already so full of life. From these wheel-thrown closed forms, Jeanne’s rhino and hippo salt and pepper shaker set, Here’s Looking At You, was born.

We also discussed process with Jeanne; her ceramics begin as ideas in her head that she sketches as cartoon-like drawings to get her ideas down on paper. From there, Jeanne doesn’t stop thinking about her project, constantly tinkering with her initial idea: “I think about the project all the time - while stuck in traffic, in the shower, all night long while sleeping and dreaming. In fact, a lot of my process happens when I'm asleep; I work through the process over and over in my sleep and when I wake up, I've figured out solutions and come up with new ideas. Then I begin working. I have a plan but I also need to work things out as I go, responding to what the clay wants.” Once Jeanne has achieved a form that she’s happy with, she moves forward to the glazing. Jeanne noted that she has been working with the glazes at Clay Art Center for so many years that she doesn’t really make test tiles any more, and instead enjoys the further challenge of figuring out how to apply the glazes so that they will interact and move in the kiln in a desirable way. Jeanne added that her work as a teacher gives her even more experience to draw on. “I'm able to see the results my students get from their work, which adds to my repertoire,” Jeanne said, “I definitely learn from my students.”

Chai Alilharder is the artist behind Moving Mountains, a brightly colored and textured salt and pepper shaker set. For Chai, the Shake It Up call for entry was timely - she had already been exploring making salt and pepper shakers with friends: “My exploration of ceramic salt and pepper shakers started with a group of friends at our community clay studio. We decided that every few months, we would all take on a themed clay project, and then meet up to share our art, food, and drink. It was fitting that the very first collective clay project was salt and pepper shakers, something so symbolic of gathering with good company. I enjoyed the challenge of creating something miniature, modular yet majestic. As I refined the design over multiple prototypes, Moving Mountains emerged.” The set is made up of two mountain shakers and a bright sun that can be rearranged atop a mountain lake base to create different scenes. Chai shared that she hopes the small details - the texture of the mountains, the glossy surface of the lake, and the contrasting bare clay that peaks out from the bottom of the base - invite viewers in and reward their close attention. ”More broadly, I am inspired to create pieces that beckon the audience to look more closely and thus think more deeply, so as to instill curiosity about the art, themselves, and each other,” Chai stated, “That is why many of my pieces have rich details, contrasting textures, and/or multiple perspectives or layers. The longer viewers spend observing and interacting with the art, the art the piece reveals itself. The goal is to maximize the joy and fun per pound of clay, for myself as well as my audience.”

In order to achieve her richly detailed pieces, Chai begins with a plan. For pieces that are inspired by an abstract concept, like an open-ended exhibition theme, Chai starts with a mindmap, or a sketched out network of connected ideas and associated words. For more concretely defined projects, like the call for entry for Shake It Up, Chai starts straightaway with rough sketches that help her to feel out the shape and proportions of different structural elements, and jots down notes about details like color and texture. If Chai does work from reference images or other sources of inspiration, she looks beyond the world of ceramics: “For example, recently I have been researching lattice windows and gates in traditional Chinese architecture and Chinese paper cutting. I often make two or more iterations of a piece at once, to leave more room for exploration and improvisation.” You can see an example of one of Chai’s pieces inspired by Chinese lattice architecture in the images below.

Moving Mountains is a modular salt-and-pepper set that takes the form of a re-arrangeable landscape, inspired by classic Chinese paintings. Two mountains, their contours highlighted by celadon glazes and copper oxide sit on a glistening, pristine lake while a fiery sun peeks through. In these times when we tend to scarf down food while mindlessly scrolling on our phones, this salt and pepper shaker set invites diners to pause and take in the view. It reminds them that, much like a sunrise or sunset, the present is fleeting and never takes place twice. In using the shakers, diners in effect "move mountains". "Yu Gong Yi Shan" is one of many Chinese proverbs that teach the lesson that with perseverance, anything is possible. I imagine this salt-and-pepper shaker set quietly encouraging diners with this message, at their first meal and their last of each day - to keeping going, because the sun will rise again. - Chai Alilharder

Madison Berry draws inspiration for her work from daily life, particularly her time with her daughter. For Shake It Up, Madison created a salt and pepper shaker set in the shape of peanut butter and jelly jars, which recall with nostalgia the simple pleasures of childhood. Madison was inspired to create the set by some of her favorite everyday moments with her daughter: “the sweet, joyful ritual of making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.” Madison shared that she and her daughter have a routine for their sandwiches; she pulls over the step ladder so that her daughter can watch her cut the bread, open the jars, and assemble the sandwiches, turning a moment of closeness into a teaching moment as well. “This set represents tangible expressions of love, process, food, and togetherness,” Madison said, “This functional set also allows me to reflect on being present, connection, and the layers of meaning in everyday routines and parenting.”

In terms of her process, Madison has a clear set of steps that help her to move intentionally through making. After finding her inspiration, Madison researches the work of other artists and begins to formulate the design. She then sketches out possibilities, exploring ideas further in two dimensions before moving onto clay. As with most of her work, the peanut butter and jelly jar salt and pepper shakers begin as wheel-thrown forms, which Madison then incorporates handbuilt sculptural elements into in order to bring them to life. Below, you’ll see another example of Madison’s sculptural work, also inspired by shared moments with her daughter, called Picnic (Where is my inchworm?). Madison noted that, “My daughter would search for the tiny green friends for hours and this moment was so sweet and innocent. As a mother, she teaches me to slow down and observe the world with curiosity and excitement.”