Images of ceramic objects cannot provide, of course, all the inherent material qualities I appreciate in clay, glaze and form - nor the impact that scale, proportion and site have in directly encountering the work. I look forward to this experience at the gallery. Yet for purposes of jurying a show such as this, the digital format fit appropriately the evaluation methods I typically employ. It allowed, upon first opening the disk file, to see the entries in toto; providing a sense of the breadth of work I was to choose, all at once. While I tend to trust my first gut impression - subsequent cycles of review continued, over and over bringing finer focus to the individual pieces. The technology made it possible to zoom in to look at color and surface relationships in the forms - which further assisted me in making my decisions. I was charged with gathering a group of work representative of the State of Clay in Massachusetts. The opportunity came with the 285 entries from 106 artists working quite broadly across the ceramic spectrum: functional to sculptural vessels, wall based pictorial and dimensional work, some figurative, and those pieces that always - delightfully, defy category. When I look at work I want to be moved- to be challenged by what the work has to say and the quality, materiality, of how it says it. I appreciate the terrifying and the beautiful, the nuanced and the bold, the whimsical and the serious - a heart that beats. I was not disappointed. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to be juror for the 2009 State of Clay. Jim Lawton
