Friday, May 15, 2009

Jonathan F. Pacheco's "Only Human" Fine Arts Graduate Work

Rick and I went by Krannert Art to test our cameras and happily explored the College of Fine and Applied Arts BFA graduate works. I was really impressed with Pacheco's "Only Human" group of ceramic piggies with mama sow.

I shot these with my Kodak EasyShare V1253. Used low angles and had to shoot some HD video to get the full sweep of this herd of little piggies.

Robert
Interview with Jonathan:

Robert: How long have you been doing ceramics?

Jonathan: I have been working in ceramics for the past 4 years. so i guess that has not been that long for me to be working with the material. i didn't really take any art classes before college to expose myself to clay.


Robert: Do you want to continue in that medium?

Jonathan: I definitely want to continue in clay. i am aslo a metal/jewelry major. that the reason why i picked both majors, i love the material and i learn so much from it. experiment with it and combine it with other materials.


Robert: Where are you headed after graduation?

Jonathan: I honestly don't know. well i guess i do. i honestly need a break from stress, not art or making art. just stress. ill be moving to the south for a year, then i plan on applying to craftschools like Penland School of Craft. After that i plan on applying to grad schools that has a good Ceramic Sculpture program or Sculpture program, not sure on what schools yet.


Robert: How long did it take for such a large work? So many little piggies?

Jonathan: All the pigs including the big mama pig took about three months all together. building them, firing and refiring in the kilns. i actually had to rebuild the big mama pig. i didnt like how the first one was turning out.


Robert: How many piggies didn't make it into the the work?

Jonathan: almost all of them went in. i should explain. there were a few that i did not like but i didnt throw them out. i reused the ones that didn't work out. if you remember that some pigs other body had other pig body part attached to it. i made good use of the bad ones


Robert: Why didn't "Only Human" make it into the BFA Exhibition catalog with your other work? Was it just a timing issue?

Jonathan: well i felt that the catalog would not do it any justice, since it is a big piece.


Robert: Your work is both playful and a bit scary at the same time, especially when we note the mother sow. Do you think this is more the result of the scale and the variety of this work, or actually a theme that runs through your art?

Jonathan: hmm, i believe that scale has do with it as i originally planned to have more pigs. but to call it a theme, i am not sure. i guess for me its hard to sum up all of my work. i have always had a hard time trying to describe my work with someone. i just have so many ideas and so many ways to express them.


Robert: Are you going to continue to make variations of the piggies, or, are you sick of them by now?

Jonathan: actually i did get sick of them so i started working on something else, but i started working on more pigs. i plan on making more this summer. i dont know if the collection will ever be complete. i guess i have to keep on making until it feels done.


Robert: Lastly, are you going to break up this collection, or keep it together?

Jonathan: i like to show the pigs in different venues but the final plan is to break them. and if anything i would like to keep in contact with the people that i sell them to and in the future ask them the are willing to volunteer there pig in a show and returned after ward.

1 comment:

  1. Interesting collection. Given what we have seen, there are so many ways we could depict this collection using digital devices. The variation, depending on what you use, and how you use it could be interesting. This could be an idea for next year!

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