Michael Kline
I remember driving to a show with Jeff. I was a young, naive potter, just starting out. I had not a clue as to how to sell the idiosyncratic pots I was making. To me, making pottery seemed more exciting and engaging than the challenges involved with trying to sell it. Jeff speculated that our success at this wholesale crafts show would make it possible for each of us to continue to explore and make our own particular, unique kinds of pots.
Jeff got got a speeding ticket. We made it to the show.
I have a bowl of Jeff’s from that time. It’s like a patchwork of various styles of surface treatment. The bowl’s interior is divided into three sections. One section is a field of rivuleted bluish-green ash glaze. Another section is masked-off into a rigid, binary grid and dot pattern. And the final section is a window-of-sorts view into a hand painted botanical scene.
Kleckner’s visual playbook, his ability to mix and match slews of patterns and colors was unlike anything I’d seen, except maybe in books about Rosanjin or Kenzan.
Jeff was quite a role model for me, I guess. His work bolstered my own pursuit: making a living as a potter by exploring all the depth and possibility of decorative and utilitarian pots.
Michael Kline
I remember driving to a show with Jeff. I was a young, naive potter, just starting out. I had not a clue as to how to sell the idiosyncratic pots I was making. To me, making pottery seemed more exciting and engaging than the challenges involved with trying to sell it. Jeff speculated that our success at this wholesale crafts show would make it possible for each of us to continue to explore and make our own particular, unique kinds of pots.
Jeff got got a speeding ticket. We made it to the show.
I have a bowl of Jeff’s from that time. It’s like a patchwork of various styles of surface treatment. The bowl’s interior is divided into three sections. One section is a field of rivuleted bluish-green ash glaze. Another section is masked-off into a rigid, binary grid and dot pattern. And the final section is a window-of-sorts view into a hand painted botanical scene.
Kleckner’s visual playbook, his ability to mix and match slews of patterns and colors was unlike anything I’d seen, except maybe in books about Rosanjin or Kenzan.
Jeff was quite a role model for me, I guess. His work bolstered my own pursuit: making a living as a potter by exploring all the depth and possibility of decorative and utilitarian pots.
Michael Kline