In the Moment
The works of Mary Jones a.k.a. The Brick Thief
Mary Jones: Go and Catch a Falling Star
Mary Jones is a ceramic artist otherwise known as The Brick Thief. KMA Gallery was the first to showcase Mary Jones' characterful sculptural heads. Since then, Mary has been headhunted by designer Paul Smith to produce a collection for his new art venture.
Mary's work is a response to conversations she encounters with people in her everyday life. She is particularly interested in dialogues with strangers on public transport. She gathers these heart-to-hearts with visual information and returns with them to her studio.
Mary emphasises expressions and feelings by pressing broken shards of crockery into the clay structure of the sculpted faces. These shards represent memories, triggering the emotions embedded in our personalities.
Mary Jones: My Joy and Hearts Delight
Mary says—
"The idea behind my work is to capture human emotions and moments in time, representing the spirit of individuals. I'm very interested in people and their emotions, and as an artist, I aim to capture these precious moments shared between us while in conversation, in clay".
She is in her element when chatting with people and embraces sombre conversations if that is what is needed. She oscillates between smiling, laughter, sadness, and sincerity in her exchanges and has identified that people often enjoy talking about their stories or daily routines. It's the essence of these encounters she aims to capture.
Returning to her studio, she creates portraits of the people she was talking to in clay. She records their expressions and emotions with colour and mark-making, mainly using coloured slips and oxides in an expressive, painterly manner. She introduces broken recycled crockery and embeds it into the clay while in the making. This offers an added dimension to her work, like structure, shapes, patterns, and colours, enhancing the personality of the piece and the person it's representing.
Her pieces have a playful, simple quality that is incredibly difficult to replicate. The titles are a significant aspect of her work, too. Each piece circles back to the conservations she had by naming snippets from that engagement.
Mary Jones: The Teacups Are Called Beryl