Feature Artist: Jason Hartsoe

By Gina Malone

Artist Jason Hartsoe took the scenic route on his way to his career as an artist, but he got there. He grew up in a little place called Cat Square. Nestled in the foothills of Catawba County, it is an area known for its pottery past. “Lots of folks made strictly utilitarian wares there, including plenty of my forefathers,” Hartsoe says. “However, traditions have their way of dying out over time, given a generation or two.”

He graduated from college with a degree in English and traveled the country for ten years taking jobs in places ranging from Wyoming to New York City. He was living in a rural community in Japan and teaching English there when became interested in ceramics. “I had had no formal art classes and had never worked in clay,” he says. “Yet, somehow, I felt an immediate kinship with clay.” He found himself dissatisfied with a life that felt unsettled. “I wanted a line of work that would require a devotion, something I could sink into,” he says. “I think, at that particular moment, just breaking into my 30s, I was especially receptive to the craftsmanship that was behind so much of what I was truly appreciating about the culture that surrounded me in Japan. In ceramics, I saw a unique link to the past through tradition; I saw a path towards making something lasting that could add a sincere and quiet quality to the daily rituals of our present days, and in the potters in their potteries in the nearby villages, I saw a way of life that I wanted for my own.”

Academic studies of the craft were not for him, Hartsoe decided. He wanted to learn from those already creating. Over the next five years, he worked as an assistant or an apprentice to potters in Japan, England and Virginia before coming back to NC where several artist residencies, Penland School of Craft among them, helped further his education in the craft. He settled near Mt. Mitchell, converting a barn near his house to a studio. “Just the way I dreamed it back in Japan, 14 years ago,” he adds. “Yet, in so many ways, I feel like my journey with clay is just beginning.”

Using NC stoneware clays, Hartsoe creates a range of utilitarian wares for the table. “I use a slow-moving, foot-powered treadle wheel to throw pots,” he says. “I also enjoy working with component pieces thrown on the wheel and modified by paddling, pushing out of round and stacking to form larger, squared pieces. This allows me to play with profile a bit more and can suggest a 2D form out of a 3D vessel.” To dress the pots, he utilizes a variety of clay slips and ash glazes.

As he creates, it is form that stays foremost in his mind. “I love how a well-made, handmade object can elevate our oftentimes mundane human experiences, our snacks, our coffee break,” he says. “I would like to make the mug that wins you over and makes a snob of you, that quietly pushes all the industrial ceramics in your kitchen to the back of the cupboard in favor of an object which does more than just the job, but is also an open invitation of collaboration—for you to use it, to drink from it, to pour from it, to serve on it what you wish, each time completing the loop of its purpose.”

Among the galleries representing Hartsoe is Gallery 164, in Waynesville. “Jason masterfully balances functionality with sculptural form, allowing the beauty of the clay to shine through subtle mark-making and the vibrant energy of the handmade,” says Jerry Jackson, the gallery’s co-owner. “Each piece, regardless of its shape, carries an intimate, ceremonial aesthetic that invites a deeper connection.”

Hartsoe likens making art to problem solving, and notes how one’s art flows into daily life. “I think when we are not creating, we are looking, and learning how to look is the first step to creating,” he says.

Find Jason Hartsoe’s work at Gallery 164, 164 Main Street, in Waynesville. Learn more at Gallery164.com. His work will also be exhibited at the Spruce Pine Potters Market Saturday, October 12, and Sunday, October 13, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. Learn more at SprucePinePottersMarket.com.