Artist Statement

The ideas for my claywork originate in all seasons in New Hampshire's mountains, meadows, forests, seashores, and in my own beloved garden.

Unclothed by glaze, the textures, tones, and colors of the clay alone, closely convey my feelings for these Places.

The works are composed of high-temperature industrial, commercial, and local stonewares and porcelains fired to cone 10 (2300° F) in reduction with gas or wood fuel. Sand and gravel are incorporated into some of the clays. Glazes are used sparingly while washes of brown to black iron and grey to green copper oxides enhance the textures; orange "flashing" and mottled drifts of ash from the wood fire do the rest.

-Al Jaeger 2010

 

Curator's Statement

For nearly five decades Al Jaeger has lived and worked on his farm in New Hampshire. For those fortunate enough to know him personally, they have experienced the powerful yet subtle installations that he has constructed throughout his land as a way of life. Very few artists live their lives truly embodying the conceptual basis of their work. Al Jaeger is one of them.

The long country road that is part hiss land is peppered here and there with objects that are created by hand, which are as much a part of the landscape as the wind, light, trees, rocks, and soil. Walking in any direction on his farm, installations abound throughout, the hand and the mind never separated from life, or made insignificant nor dehumanized. Al is not an artist that merely gives rhetoric to an idea, but rather an artist that creates works that are fully integrated conceptually into his life.

Highly respected as a master in the world of ceramic art, he has taught and mentored hundreds of artists. Few people have the level of artistic integrity and profound humanity that he embodies. Al Jaeger transforms clay into objects that embody the fullness of being in touch with life and nature. Architectural and geographic, his sculptural porcelain and stoneware works embody Place.

-Natacha Villamia Sochat 2010