Jonathan Cross
Jonathan Cross is an artist and ceramicist who makes sculptures born of fire. He works and lives in the desert community of Twentynine Palms, CA, in Joshua Tree National Park.
We met Jonathan at a studio in downtown LA, where he shared a bit of his story and process with us while letting us get hands on with a few of his incredible sculptures. We were lucky enough to take one home too!
The following is an interview with Jonathan Cross.
Q: Share a little of your biography. Where did you grow up? What’s your background and how did you come to work with sculpture?
A: I grew up in a suburb of Dallas. My family consists of a long history of laborers and craftsmen. Hard work and humble means defined my youth. There was also an emphasis on honest and accurate work. I met my wife in Dallas while we were attending college. She enticed me to move to California where she grew up. I had entertained the idea of going to grad school in LA and things moved in that direction.
Instead of grad school I started working at the reputable printing studio, Gemini G.E.L. My background in college was in painting and printmaking so this was a dream come true at the time. I was fortunate to work with some great artists like Toba Khedoori, Cecily Brown, Joel Shapiro and in particular Richard Serra. While this was a great experience I soon came to realize I could not be working for other artists if I wanted to make my own way. The whole foray into ceramics began in the later half of my career at Gemini and then I went back to school to study ceramics. We first moved back to Dallas so I could study at our Alma mater, The University of Dallas. After two years there we moved to Phoenix, AZ where I attended grad school. During grad school I was again fortunate to work with another great artist, Don Reitz. Working with Don I began to learn about firing ceramics in wood filed kilns. Being around him and his studio prepared me for the ardor and difficulties surrounding running a ceramic studio.
"I soon came to realize I could not be working for other artists if I wanted to make my own way"
Q: Tell us about your favorite piece you’ve created and why?
A: I have a few favorites. A sculpture I keep in the studio, one of the first incense burners I created, and a handful of mezcal cups I keep at home for my personal use. I typically hold back the best work from each firing. The roster shifts over the years but I find it’s important to surround yourself with work that excites you be that my art or those of my friends and contemporaries. I dream one day of having an extensive collection of ceramics made by my favorite artists.
Q: Your process is very organic and natural - both in the materials you use and how they take form. How would you describe your process?
A: I look at a lot of art, architecture, images of archeology and antiquity as well as entwining my self with sci-fi. The forms that emerge from all of this input are the basis for most of my work. I draw a lot, though these drawings don’t necessarily become the basis for work I create - rather they are inspiration to get started. My assistants and I form solid blocks of clay, anywhere from one pound to eighty pounds. After some drying, the blocks are carved into the desired forms. I primarily use a machete, butcher knife and chisels to carve the clay. After a thorough drying time the work is arranged in the kiln and fired. I have two kilns which I designed and built. One is a gas/propane fueled kiln and the other is a wood filed kiln. The work in the gas kiln is sprayed with a salt mixture at peak temperatures glazing the work in the kiln as it is fired. The work in the wood kiln achieves its surfaces by the slow accumulation of ash on the work which melts at higher temperatures.
"I primarily use a machete, butcher knife and chisels to carve the clay."
Q: Tell us a bit about how you marry beauty and form with utility. Why is it that your work is both beautiful and useful?
A: I began my clay interest primarily from a utilitarian interest. I began collecting succulents and cacti and could not find interesting containers for my plants. I started taking classes at a local community college to fire my work. The plants were my main concern so I made simple, minimally inspired planters with raw clay surfaces. Simple hexagonal, square, pentagonal and cylindrical containers meet the need of the plants and suited my aesthetic sensibilities. An early trip to Joshua Tree National Park changed my thinking and concept of what a planter could be. Some friends and I were on a hike, after navigating a difficult obstacle on the path I was confronted with this beautiful cactus perched on a shelf of a boulder. The boulder was the aforementioned obstacle. It was as large a a small car. At the top was a slight shelf two feet across and one foot deep with perhaps 3 inches of gravel and in the middle was the perfect hedgehog cactus with a crown of flowers. I thought to myself, "man this is a gigantic planter/sculpture for one small plant". I began in earnest to make more sculptural forms for my plants and eventually forgot about the plants and just made sculptures. This is a long, convoluted way of saying form and function have always swayed back and forth in my work. Sometimes I’m making mezcal cups other times I’m working on pure sculpture, but the same integrity and spirit is put into both.
Q: What drew you to the Joshua Tree landscape? How do you use the local ecology in your works?
A: After my first visit to Joshua Tree I immediately became enamored with the Southwest and its deserts. This love was congruent with my interest in cacti and succulents. There are endless forms being carved out by time in the deserts and it seems every foray out into the wilds brings new inspiration. With some new equipment in the studio I am also able to process local stones and turn them into grog or temper in the clay. Different kinds of stones add flavor to the clay that comes out in the firings.
"There are endless forms being carved out by time in the deserts and it seems every foray out into the wild brings new inspiration."
Q: What excites you about natural materials? What do you work with now and what are you excited to experiment with next?
A: Natural clays and stone have impurities that give the surface of the clay fantastic surprises when fired, particularly the interaction of the wood and clay. Firing the work in this method lends an ancient weathered patina to the surfaces. I like how this brings an ambiguity to the perceived time of the pieces I make. Modern, sci-fi forms with ancient surfaces.
Q: Three artists/makers/thinkers you draw inspo from?
Q: Any health / wellness / personal care / life tips to share?
A: Coffee, mezcal, meat, fresh air, sunshine, being on your feet as much as possible, and good comfortable shoes.
Q: Please share upcoming shows/exhibit details as well as where can our readers find you?
A: I am currently showing work at Hammer and Spear in Los Angeles, in a show titled Trance along with a fantastic line up of other desert based artists. In September I’ll be in a two person show at the Blunk Space in Point Reyes, not to be missed.
Follow Jonathan on Instagram here: @jcrossstudio.
