Jason Mcdonald

bio

Jason McDonald is a glass artist with a particular passion for Venetian furnace techniques. He uses these techniques to speak about barriers BIPOC people face in accessing creative spaces, his experience as a black man in a nation with deeply racist roots, and the wild joy of chasing technical pursuits. He began his glass career at the age of 14 at the hilltop artist program, Tacoma Washington. He is a Windgate Fellowship recipient, was a contestant on the reality television show ‘Blown away’, and has been awarded residencies at Pittsburgh glass center, Pilchuck Glass school, and the Corning museum of glass. He has taught at Penland school of craft, Pittsburgh glass center, Pilchuck Glass School, Pratt Fine arts, The Studio at Corning Museum of Glass, Urban Glass, and elsewhere. He received his BFA with honors at California college of art and was awarded the presidential fellowship at Tyler School of Art and Architecture where he earned his MFA.

STATEMENT

Every piece I create, from the humblest tumbler to the most baroque sculpture, makes a statement about isolation, striving, access, perseverance, boundary pushing, and the pursuit of excellence. As a furnace glassblower, were I to only make vessels I would, without hesitation, call the product of my labor both Craft and Art. I see my labor at the furnace, regardless of the object I am making, as inseparable from my art practice. I believe my identity as a working class black man, operating in a field reserved largely as a puerile pursuit for society's most privileged (whitest), is a powerful artistic and political gesture. Furthermore, my drive to deeply understand the material and processes of glass blowing coupled with my passion for teaching, in a social landscape where I have not been invited, welcomed or often seen myself reflected, is an act of resistance. I am carving out space for myself. I am claiming territory and opening doors for those coming after me.

The topics I address in my work range from identity politics to the ecstatic joy of deep craft. Sometimes my work is about creating a narrative through the material of glass to convey my lived experience of existing in a still unequal nation. At other times my work is about using the medium of glass to explore boundaries in two directions; the limits of the material itself and discovering the extent of my own ability with it.

My work is rooted in aspiration, obsession, curiosity, and an uncompromising commitment to my craft. I want to know what the extent of my potential is. When I speak of my practice privately I am referring specifically to the act of building skill through study and repetition. I’ll often produce dozens of the same object in a quest to understand a specific technique. There is always room for improvement.

My work is often heavily ornamented. I believe ornament can be the bait that lures curious viewers in and then asks them to consider the world from a new perspective. All ornament is functional. The function ornament performs is beauty.