UNABASHED SIMPLICITY

"No matter how many times you do this, it still seems miraculous" is a quote from Jack Troy from an interview on the radio for PA People and a splendid insight in to his nature and in fact, that of many potters and other craftsman. One thing that sets Troy apart from the pack is his eloquent abilities in speaking and writing about pottery, not to mention his skill at presenting unabashed simplicity in his work. His forms, developed intuitively over decades of creating, have become like mannequins for designer garb, the forms are created and the anagama wood kiln dresses them in varying garments of natural ash at intense temperatures. The pots, many of them made of porcelain are introduced into the kiln, sans glaze and through the also miraculous process of stoking the wood kiln ever 15 minutes or so over many days, the pots are made whole and are allowed to become what the fire and ash had in store for them. The illustrated teabowl by Jack Troy is a beast of a pot in scale, though it has a simple and humble nature with the marks of the potter  cloaked in glassy ash, creating gesture and animation that draws one in to investigate the line of the pot ultimately tipping into the ash covered interior. The simple curves and wandering lip are exactly the seduction that every pottery collector knows all too well and completes the conversation with the pot on a multitude of levels; simple in its beauty, but certainly no simple pot.