Artist Explores 'Convergence' in New Gallery Exhibit

The wood follows a lazy curve until it's swallowed in an organic green mass that could be moss or brush. Verdant and earthy tones contrast, and only on second glance do the layered knots and growth rings become polished surfaces and right angles.

Sculpted by nature, or sculpted by man? The answer is both, in artist Jonathon McMillan's world.

The artist's one-year residency at the Clay Art Center culminates with a public gallery exhibit this summer. Its name -- Convergence -- is what McMillon hopes visitors will see in the bombarding styles and textures of his pieces.

McMillan works with pottery and sculpture, fashioning visually striking decorative pieces and teapots, cups and dishes that blend the man-made with the organic.

Many of the pieces explore the idea of duality, utilizing components that have no relationship with each other aside from their clay origins.

They become "a foil for each other," McMillan said.

Other examples combine geometric and industrial elements with earth tones and asymmetric features, and McMillan said he hopes they're viewed as a representation of the relationships humans have with the natural world.

The artist's work alternates between sculpture and more involved methods, like wood-firing. The differences in approach are practical as well as inspirational, helping McMillan achieve the varying effects central to his theme.

"Working on the wheel and wood-firing functional pots are at the heart of my love of clay," McMillan said. "But making sculptural work gives me the freedom to explore many processes, as an avenue to address more content-oriented issues with my work."

At the opening reception last Thursday night, McMillan spoke with visiting art admirers, detailing his creative processes and the messages he hopes to convey.

McMillan was awarded a grant from the Clay Art Center last week, as he ends his one-year stay as an artist-in-residence. He said the exhibition provided "great closure" as he leaves Port Chester to teach at the University of South Carolina, where he will run the school's ceramics studio.

Rebecca Manson, 21, stopped to admire the detail in McMillan's work as she made her way through one of the galleries.

"I like the way he deals with surface and texture," said Manson, who is a summer student at the art center.

Did she see convergence in the teapots, dishes and tabletop pieces? Manson says yes.

"They come together help to unify the body of work," she said, "and systematically blend it together."

Jonathon McMillan's Convergence will remain on exhibit at the Clay Art Center through Aug. 2. Admission is free.