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ARTIST
THE SPIR ITUA L POW ER OF THE FUNCTIONA L
A conversation with ar tist Rebecca Blevins. by JORIE JACOBI / Photography by ATTILIO D’AGOSTINO
Nashville-based ceramicist Rebecca Blevins was working on one of the largest pieces she’s attempted to date, propelling past the threshold of her comfort zone, driven by curiosity. What would happen, she wondered, if she heaved 25 pounds of clay onto a pottery wheel and fashioned it into a massive bowl before firing it? The resulting creation measured nearly 3 feet high and was intended to serve as the base for an even larger sculptural feat—until it unceremoniously exploded in the kiln. “I pushed it too fast,” Blevins says, with a rueful laugh. “There are always setbacks in ceramics. Things break and explode. You’re tripping over something or smashing it on accident, and you need to make multiples of whatever you’re working on. I’ve definitely broken more pieces than I’ve completed.” They who select clay must somehow accept the probability that a high percentage of what they make will fail. Leaning in, and failing forward in a way that’s unfamiliar is the best scenario one can hope for. Applied broadly, the metaphor symbolizes the life of a working artist almost too perfectly: they who live for what has previously been left untreaded. Which makes it all the more special when examining one of Blevins’ pieces: perfectly smooth, hollowed-out vessels alongside more experimental works, like plates and pots repeatedly patterned with an illustration of a
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