If an old vase could talk – what would it say?
Not as silly a sentiment as you might think, given that a clay vase actually has a memory! The form it takes when thrown will be held in its drying process. Any later alterations you make will be in vane as it will revert itself back. This astonishing fact makes me simultaneously want to (and not want to) be a potter!
Vases are special for being an artform from their making, canvasses themselves both for art and the subject of the art. In fine art however they often play a supporting role in the celebration of flowers. But not so in a series of paintings by Wiltshire artist Jenny Monds.
In “Red Urn” we see a beautifully hued soft red vase shown with age and a hand-thrown texture, flowerless, but all the more appealing for being so. An object so symbolic of love and of gifting that it gives pause for thought at its incompleteness. What is missing, the absence, evokes a powerful sense of loss. An acrylic and collage on wood, the work can currently be viewed at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and is part of a semi-abstract series called - “Vessels”. In Jenny’s other pieces words surround the vases “ I sold you”, “I dusted you” and “I gave you pride of place”.
At Hedge Pink we thrive on the questions; where has this been? What has this witnessed? The older they are, the more deeply imbued with lifecycles of owners’ and givers’ stories. Many customers really appreciate this – they coo over them, compulsively buy them. Just as many seem to “bathe” in a shop full of antique items, others enjoy them whilst not necessarily acknowledging the extent of the role they have in the atmosphere that they create. Amongst older customers they regularly provoke nostalgia, “my mother had one of these” they often exclaim in wistful, gladdened tones. Sometimes the tone is a combination altogether sadder, tinged with a bereft that speaks to their own twilight as well as a sense of loss. Heard many times a day, I feel the walls absorbing the rebounding nostalgia – and imagine the unique personal imagery that must appear in their minds’ eye.
It is satisfying and life affirming to be that conduit between an items past and a new life, to extend it’s appreciation, to see it into a new future safe and valued. “I left My Mark” – is the title of another Jenny Monds painting. Again full of meaning and open to interpretation, it explores a possession as a conduit for a legacy of mark making. Evocative and impressionable, a single vase can resonate with many customers. Often amongst a generation who wouldn’t have had many photographs of their loved ones, who would have seen in their mothers an appreciation of china craftsmanship, quality and choice that is unparalleled today. A mother back then very definitely had “ a pride of place”. Very often the vase we have isn’t identical to but, “one like that”. I then watch on as customers test their memory, revisit dressers and sideboards and occasions.
Gave, left & loved, old vases continue to be supreme items to cherish.You can see “Red Urn” at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition until the 18th Aug, but also we have a limited run of Jenny’s cards in Hedge Pink at the Apple Rooms, Breamore SP6 2DB.