Too often depictions of devils are just too darn scary for me. I just have to believe that these rascals are capable of some pretty ripe mischief as well as all the more predictable psychopathic torture and so on. I guess this devil is another of my departures from the despicable and cruel. Indeed, I can\'t help feeling like this fiend with his fiery red tongue is more in a mood for mocking than inflicting physical harm.
This bad boy is 10\" tall. It was spun up on the wheel first, then largely manipulated from the inside out. The glazes are all made by me here in my grungy little garage. The jug is signed and dated. It is in perfect or mint condition. He is ready to come right on over and amuse...bemuse? corrupt? tease the heck out of your other jugs.
I am a high school English teacher. For the past few years I have had my twelfth graders work on a project in the last quarter where they have to teach themselves something new--a new skill? Hobby? Trade? The sky is the limit. This year I decided I would share with them something that I taught myself about six years ago--pottery. I made a 60 second video on YouTube showing how I turn that glob of goo into a face jug.
A year or so ago I was contacted by writer/director Chad Crawford Kinkle, who had just won Slamdance\'s top prize for best horror script, to make around 20 face jugs for his film. The film is currently scaring the pants off of viewers in festivals here and abroad. News is that it was just picked up by a distributor, so start looking for it around July. I included a still and a shot of the new poster to show my pots acting their scariest.
To see more, please check out my website. Google: theyankeepotter.
Thanks for looking.Who made this?
My name is Jason Mahlke, and I am a self taught potter. I turn the pots in my basement, create thefaces at my kitchen table, and fire them in my garage. I admire theSouthern potters like the Meaders and Hewell families. Their pottery always features such solid,graceful forms with crude but expressive faces. But I am also drawn to thesophisticated and lifelike looks of some of Wallace Martin\'s face jugsand grotesques. I think I\'m beginning to get close to capturing thatsort of impossible balance. I mainly use Georgia clay because of its heavy grog. This gives the jars the sandy texture that you would find inthe Southern stoneware. I make jugs, jars, coffee cups, salt & pepper holders...pretty much anything that can serve as some sort of container.