Ceramist Jonathan Cross creates pots
in the desert
Text: Bonsai Focus Studio Photography: Jonathan Cross
Jonathan Cross creates ancient looking sculptures and pots, which may
even sometimes look like architecture. All seem to come from a kind of
post-apocalyptic aesthetic imagery. His studio is a cabin in the middle
of the Californian Desert. There he creates his work, which is fired in a
wood-fired kiln. This special wood-firing technique gives the pots his
unusual deteriorated effect. Like a true sculptor, he carves his creations
using knives and chisels
Carved mud
POTS
How did you get into bonsai
ceramics?
I've always been interested in bonsai.
I made a few containers when I first
started ceramics and tried to engage with
the bonsai community in Dallas and Fort
Worth with little enthusiasm. Trying to
juggle bonsai and ceramics seemed like a
folly, one or the other was going to suffer,
or both, so I committed to ceramics which
I am more passionate about. I actually
started ceramics because of my cactus
and succulent collection and a desire
to have more interesting containers for
them as well as the basic terra-cotta.How did you acquire the skills?
My first ceramics instructor was Dan
Hammett of Dallas, Texas. He gave me
a fantastic foundation in the technical
aspects of ceramics, so that I wouldn’t
be hindered by a lack of knowhow. These
skill sets included kiln building, firing
kilns, clay body development and clay
forming techniques. These skill sets serve
me every day.Why ceramics?
Clay has such transformative properties.
When it comes from the ground it's in a
dry crumbly state, you add water to it and
it becomes a wet, plastic mud. As it dries
it's like leather (a state I particularly enjoy
because that is when I carve it), then it
has a sandstone like hardness. While it
is still semi moist, clay is very receptive
to actions imposed on it: tearing, cutting,
indentations, all of these actions are
recorded in the clay. When you put the
clay into the kiln and subject it to heat
further transformations take place. The70 Bonsai Focus