Jemma Gascoine
“I am a potter and also a ceramic sculptor and I guess I was always involved in the Arts. So I started dancing, my mom got me into ballet class when I was three and then at six, I was doing piano, and ten xylophone, eleven violin, still dancing and then performance, so I went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama when I was fourteen and then became a member of the National Youth Theatre at eighteen. I did an Art-History degree and worked in theater and got to the Arts Council of England, I have a post grad in Arts Management. And while I was there, I thought, well, you know, I've tried all of these other artistic forms, but haven't really tried visual arts. And so I was sitting on a train on my way to London, and picked up a magazine and in the magazine, it was TIME OUT magazine, was advertised some pottery classes in Pimlico which is quite near to where I was working at the Arts Council, so I just started taking some pottery classes at the age of 26,” says Jemma Gascoine.
Jemma has grown to be a phenomenal potter as she learned from a master potter Barry Guppy and his studio was based in London. He was known for his pieces crafted for Princess Diana and taught by another master potter, Lucie Rie. Jemma was taught that pottery wasn’t just a form of art but a way to build energy physically.
Photographed by Kipp Vermeulen
Jemma completes her throwing process leaving a beautifully crafted bowl ready to begin the next phase.
“It's really like a dialogue or conversation that I'm having with myself and clay, my medium. I very much like throwing on a potter's wheel. I like the physicality of it still, I really enjoy building pieces. And so I just did the show for the Maine Craft Portland, the Holy Grail Show. I built some chalices. And so I started throwing like eight stems for the chalices. And I find that I'm sort of designing, drawing as I'm throwing quite a lot. I did start with a few models a few weeks before which I put on a shelf to think about whilst I'm doing other things. And, then I throw the cups off the hump, a Japanese style of throwing and add the cup shape to the chalice. And, and then I started playing with handles. So one of the chalices has no handles, and then one has one handle and then the next two etc. it was just kind of a series and variation exercise. So I'm still curious. I'm playing and I'm having a conversation or dialogue with myself. But also, I'm aware that there's a lot of potters and creative people in Maine, and whose work I like. And there's a particular potter ceramic sculptor that I absolutely love, Betty Woodman. I really love her work. And so, you know, this sort of inspires you. And there's little pieces from Betty Woodman in my work. I really like a sculptor called David Smith, who worked a lot with metal. And I really like his kind of kinetic sculptures. And so I find that, you know, you take bits and pieces from all sorts and make it your own,".
Sculpture is really Jemma’s focus with her pottery as it is a passion of hers. Her work takes all different types of shapes but she sticks to solid colors.
Photographed by Kipp Vermeulen
Jemma’s pottery is very focused on sculpture as every piece takes on a unique form and she sticks to solid colors.
“I had a customer during the COVID-19 lock-down who commissioned me to make a work, I think she's in Brooklyn and so she pushed me to make two sculptured jars. She saw an example on my website. So she wanted kind of curly que handles or knobs on the jars. And well, the jars are about eight or nine inches tall. So I enjoy making that kind of thing. So I made a body of work called '10,000 Years Jars' which featured work from the book '10,000 years of Pottery' by Emmanuel Cooper. I made these antique pots from the book into the knobs on top of jars. What I love about pottery is that you can go and just play around with it. And you know, just take your inspiration, like what's going on in your head and just put it out there. I do believe that working with pottery is healing. I've been teaching adult education for 10 years, and my students often pick up on that quite quickly. They always find it extremely healing, and comforting, soothing. And that very much goes for me too. I think that was part of the draw. I was getting the train into London to get to the Arts Council and I was gettting claustrophobic on the train. I was feeling quite anxious which was part of my interest in moving and doing something else, so there's definitely healing properties. And I do really believe in practice. I learned that when I was younger with musical instruments, and they say that throwing on a potter's wheel is like a musical instrument, you have to practice. So if you don't practice it, you lose it. And so you have to keep going but also, I think that if you're an artist, or somebody who makes something, actually in any field, you have to keep practicing it because you have to keep working on it and tuning it up and tweaking it. And it's part of your journey. I manage to take time off of throwing one day a week, although a business isn't just the making, it's the finances and social media and all of the other stuff. But no, I definitely keep my hands in and I practice a lot. And of course, one of the good things about long winters here is that you can spend a lot of time you know, with COVID-19, where we've had to lock down, I had to shut the shop, you know, I found talking to the other artists, creative people in this community that like, in some ways, it was an opportunity to explore some things we hadn't had time to do before,” says Jemma.
Jemma’s studio in Monson has a bright, clean vibe. Her pieces and her students' pieces are shown all over the shelves and they all coordinate very nicely together. Jemma enjoys supporting her students' work and she even has interns that work for her during some of her busy seasons.
Photographed by Kipp Vermeulen
Jemma’s student and employee painting one of her bowls.
Photographed by Kipp Vermeulen
Abby Shahn’s work was displayed in Jemma’s studio upstairs. She crafts unique faces through masks and painting.
“So I've been into middle schools and high schools, I take a portable potter’s wheel, sometimes they don't have kilns and they don't really have a clay program. So I've done some work in schools, and I set up some local kids programs, teaching local kids. And in fact, my helpers in the last few years have been these kids who are now growing up, and want like Saturday jobs. So now I'm employing the kids that I actually taught, several years ago. I did a 7 to 12 program and a teen program, we did that for about three years. And then the adult education I did three semesters a year. And so I did it through the Adult Education Cooperative up here in this county. And so a range of people and the classes were affordable. And I’ve met some good friends through teaching and now I have their pieces in my shop. So some of the work that I sell in my shop is my students work who have gone on further than me, above me and they make quite different things from me, you know, we have different tastes” says Jemma.
Monson is a quiet, quaint, small town but in the summer time it does get busier as hikers travel near and far to take on the Appalachian trail. The sites and experiences you take in while in Monson you can see through Jemma’s artwork. Her studio is an attraction for many as customers not only see her artwork but other famous artists pieces as she has another showroom on the second floor of her studio. She has resided in Maine for quite some time and appreciates being a part of the creative community the state has to offer.
“Here there is a history of artists residing here, coming here. And so it's nice to be part of that community. And it's extremely beautiful, and which is inspiring. It's very inspiring, and community oriented. I just find that when people come who live here or people who come visit, they are basically very well educated about what goes into making a handcrafted object. And they seem to be very open to that. And more so than perhaps where I come from in London. They seem to be open and appreciative of that which is certainly nice,” says Jemma.