Jav Caniff

I grew up surrounded by ceramics. My dad has been teaching ceramics for over 50 years
and I remember the first time he took me to a ceramic studio (I was maybe 5 years old). I’ve
never forgotten watching him work intently, along with the sounds and smells (of earth) from
that first visit of the ceramics studio. With that visit the enduring call to work with clay began.
In my collage years I pursued those old memories of the ceramic studio and I been creating with
clay ever since. Over the years “life happens” at it does and I continued creating with clay albeit
not full time. Now, being a grade school teacher, I have more time (in the summer anyway) to
designate towards ceramics. I get great inspiration from the natural world, gardening, raising
Monarch butterflies and gathering Wild Clay (clay that was harvested straight from nature, right
out of the ground). I enjoy throwing pieces on the wheel, and slab building. In my work I try to
capture the mysteries of life that call up memories, conjure atmosphere and elicit a sense of
place. I’m constantly pursuing depth through colored slips, stains and altering the ceramic form
that brings out the attributes of the ceramics surface that conveys visual harmony between color,
form and function.