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Jesse Hamerman | Episode 1130
Jesse Hamerman started Beginner Ceramics in 2021 after not touching clay for 21-years, which he had studied in college. For Jessie it felt like a fresh discovery of the medium and his true self. Creating exuberant work at the intersection of design and craft for everyday use, each piece is crafted by hand in Brooklyn.
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Do you recall when you first realized that you were a creative person?
You know…I’ve always been creative. I grew up in a community on Stanton Island with tons of kids where we did drawings, we did art classes together, and we did plays. So I think as far back as I remember. My mother really encouraged me to be creative. So from about five on I have always been art adjacent.
Do you see the influence of earlier iterations in art that are showing up in your current approach to ceramics?
Yeah, because in my kind of art practice there would always be these very stringent rules. I would create a rule and the artwork would be playing out that rule. It could be a series of sculptures. It could be a website. It could be emails. I always created parameters with which I could work within and I am doing that in the same way with ceramics.
What traits do you feel in your personality make you lean more towards being creative than just getting a job done?
I don’t know, that’s a hard question. That’s a really hard question. I like detail oriented, meticulous, monotonous work. I say this and it freaks people out but I used to get stoned and scrap peach pits clean in high school with a sewing needle just to see the before and after. I love meticulous detail work.
Does your work convey or try to convey a specific emotion or message?
I wouldn’t say message but I definitely want to express the joy that I have in making the objects. And so I think that form, the color, the patterns, that hopefully speaks to kind of how I feel in the making.
A person is just beginning ceramics what words of wisdom would you offer that person?
I would say that there’s no rules. I know I keep mentioning rules and I think as I re-enter the ceramics community I think there’s a lot of…not old wives tales but everyone has these truisms about how to treat the medium based on what someone said. I would just really encourage a person to learn by doing and to not be afraid to experiment with every single thing they want to do and not be afraid of making mistakes.
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Instagram: @beginnerceramics