~ Mark Your Calendar ~ The 6th annual Festival is June 27 & 28 ~

Each week between now and the Festival, we'll introduce you to one of the 150 artists from 17 states who will be coming to Midway in June. If you enjoy the newsletter consider using the 'Forward Email' link to share with friends and help us grow!

Meet Jonathan Kesler ~ Ceramic Artist ~

I have been impressed with Jonathan Kesler's pottery since the first time I saw it at Damselfly Gallery in Midway several years ago. Damselfly is the only gallery Kesler sells through. The only other way to acquire his work is to meet him at an art show. You may find him at an Ohio Designer Craftsmen Winterfair in Columbus or Cincinnati, at Crosby Gardens in Toledo, at Berea Arts Festival or in Waterford, VA at the Yankee Peddler. This June you'll find him at Francisco's Farm.

His work is impeccable, from form through many glaze layers. The photographs shown here represent one of several very different and enchanting forms, patterns and glazes he creates.

Kesler does all his own work in a very engaged process of up to 7 layers of glaze using multiple techniques including airbrush, trailing, mask, dip/pour, and brushwork - on a single piece of pottery. His firing process lasts two days.

Kesler attended Morehead State University until 1980 when he received his B.A. He declined a graduate assistantship, moved to his wife's hometown of Marysville, Ohio, and established Earthly Arts Pottery.

After twelve years of producing an exclusive wholesale line, friends prompted him to participate in juried art shows. Wishing to explore personal ideas and concepts, he agreed. At this point, his university art major and environmental minor coalesced. Fifteen more years of experimenting and refining has yielded his present style and body of forms.

"Presently my immersion in my chosen field is whole and complete," says Kessler.

"All artwork from initial concept to physical reality is produced solely by myself. All glaze formulation, clay preparation, and kiln firing sequence are constructed, manipulated, and maintained by myself. By doing this, I feel I am able to have a greater control, fuller insight, and develop the best personal intuition into my work."

This is work you must see in person to fully appreciate. The photographs here do not do Kesler's work justice. I invite you to preview his work at Damselfly Gallery on Main Street in Midway if you cannot wait until the Festival. I believe that whenever you see his work you will want to hold it for quite some time.

In Kesler's words:

"The cycle of events reaches its full culmination,
I believe, when the artist and buyer meet at studio, show, or gallery and the vision and insight I have had while creating the work becomes that of the buyer."

"In the end," says Kesler, "I hope to have created art which suggests the beauty of our natural world - individual pieces than can be used to generate personal expression and environment, and work which is life-inclusive by function."

I believe he has achieved his artistic vision, and am delighted he will join us at Francisco's Farm.