Reasons to Buy Handmade: Jim Champion

About Jim
Also known as “Jimmiooooo as Lisa would announce when entering our shared studio space. I’m the Ceramic Professor at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, and a former studio mate to Lisa.”
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Why do you buy handmade pottery?
­­“As a potter I understand the making process and enjoy the diversity of individual pieces that can only be seen/felt in handmade objects. Each piece has a specific memory and story. I think about these memories each time I use them. The pieces are referred to by names like the Lisa Cup or Dan the Man Van Tassel, which I have to proclaim each time I take from the cupboard. It’s Dan the Man Van Tassel! In my best WWF voice. The pieces I own gain memories with interaction as their stories became more full with use. The piece is chosen by mood, by what is being consumed or both. Each meal or use in between meals has its own character and unique experience.”

How did you acquire a Lisa York piece of pottery?
“I have a number of pieces from a number of potters.  The individual pieces have come to me in different ways. I have purchased some from potters and have traded my own work amongst friends who are potters. Other pieces have been gifted to me. My Lisa Cup (one of my daughter’s favorites) I mentioned above was a trade for something of mine as I left North Dakota. Lisa and I have shared studio space in a couple of locations. At Hood College in Frederick MD and at the University of North Dakota. During our time together at Hood College one of the many small buildings I make for cityscape fell into one of Lisa’s thrown and altered cups and was fused inside during the firing.  This cup was known as the Cosmopolitan. The Cosmopolitan was gifted to me by Lisa in appreciation for the many long and additional hours it took to load the soda kiln. Sadly, the Cosmopolitan is no longer with us, broken while I was in North Dakota. This story also illustrates the difference between handmade and mass produced objects as the Cosmopolitan still holds a special place in my heart. Can you say the same about any mass produce ware you may have owned?
Loading kilns together with Lisa continued in North Dakota where we were known as the York and Cork team. Because of my size I could only enter face forward on my knees and back out of the kiln’s opening in the -30 degree temperatures.  Lisa had the luxury of sitting sideways while loading and could almost stand up inside the kiln.
As a studio mate/classmate I have a fuller experience of the pieces I have of Lisa ‘s. Seeing her work go from raw clay to leather-hard ideas and finely finished pieces. These pieces are filled with memories of laughter, tea time and animal crackers shared in the studio.”

​Learn more about Jim on his website.
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