Jim Stamper

Review of Equinox Exhibition at Dynamo Gallery

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Jim Stamper Winger (detail) 2001,
sioneware, Plastic bags

Man versus nature, noture versus man,
man versa man: | have remembered these
themes since grade school. Little did 1
realize then that this simple statement
would so eloquently yet frankly articulate
humanity's desire to understand the world
~ and nature — around it; little did I realize
the pervasiveness of this slatement across
all forms of art.

When I saw Jim Stamper’s first solo show,
Equinox, at Dynamo late last fall, | was
initially struck by its simplicity then, by its
layers. In his artist statement Stamper says,
“The tithe Equine: was chosen torepresent
the balance that we as species are continu-
ously striving to achieve, both in our im-
pact on the planet and our emotional con-
dition when thinking about that impact.”
He goes on to say, “The concept of seasons
as beginning and ending on particular days
isa human creation that distorts the way
that we view the analog way of nature.”

The show's essential medium was clay.
Yet Stamper not only managed to mould
effectively this orgamie medium to repee-
sent the relation between
nature and humanity, bat
the space and arrange-
ment of the four sections
in a room of calm white
with wood floors served
to subtly underline the
component of simplic-
ity. The final element
that bound it tozether,
that added the complex-

4

ity of the relationship between humanity
and nature were the titles and phrases,
those things essentially human that we use
to describe, to capture what we so desper-
ately want to understand.

On the surface Stamper used common
images like leaves, grass, icons of food —
com and fish —to connect us tothe seasons,
Spring was depicted in three duplicate
organic sculptures comprised of com-on-
the-oabs, fishes and flowers presented like:
alinear horn-of-plenty. Three rows of nine
ceramic fod squares oov-
ered with fresh grass repre-
sented Summer. Hundreds
of ceramic brown leaves
Tuined down on one wail
for Autumn. Shards lay
crunched on the floor be-
low as if they had been
blown there by another
force of nature. Next door,
pinned tothe adjacent wall,
was Winter, white leaves
zippered in plastic freezer
bags. Of the four depic-
tions it was Winter with
the saying, “What are we
saving for’ that said so
much about humanity's
struggle with balance in ma-
ture.

Ever since we uttered the word “ugh” it
seems as if we have struggled to explain
andunderstand not just our place in mature,
but our urge to control it, From creation
stories that give humanity dominion over
nature to the Victorians” endeavour to
capture nature in walled gardens and con-
structed mazes of hedges to mexiern hu-
manity’s continuous preoccupation with
predicting the weather, we have toiled to
understand this elemental relationship.

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Potters Guild of British Columbia Newsletter

Above: Jim Siaumper
Young Klan (artist)
lopking at Soriee 20001,
stoneware and mixed
tedia

Lett: Jim Stamper
Fall 2001, stoneware

Stamper displays the
incongruities between
humanity and nature
in his Spring, which
is accompanied by the
phrase “Can feed a
family of 2.5." We
think we have constructed our world so
succinctly around nature that we can pre-
dict what it will yield. However, we need
only to recall watching the weather chan-
nel and seeing last summer's drought on
the Prairies to know this is not so.

At the end of his artist statement, Stamper
mentions that “perfect balances” do exist.
Perhaps this is best typified by Summer's
“How long are the days?" A time when we
only think about being out in nature, lying
on the grass looking up at the sky and
wishing it could be this simple always.
Christine Conrey

Jim's extibition Equinox was shown last
Ootober $21, 200, at the Dyeame Gallery,
(32 Wee Hastings in Vancouver

Jim Stamper Swnmer D001,

sioneware, live erass

February 2002