Sculptor Ashley James (http://www.ashleydjames.com) builds large clay forms coil by coil. She calls them pots, a term which contrasts with the magnitude of their impact. James' work combines her background as a functional potter and her training as a painter while attending the Kansas City Art Institute, where she earned her BFA.

The sculptures remind the viewer of the human body; these vessels are like twisted torsos, bulbous or sharp edged, varying from blunt to obese. Each polished form is testament to her patient exploration of the flexibility of her medium and a willful experimentation in how form and finish combine to affect an audience. With her tactile building skill and careful study of color and composition she creates both simple vessels and perversions of the human form which appear natural and extraordinary at the same time.

James prefers the progression of form she obtains by handbuilding and finds that patiently sculpting coil after coil enables her to control the medium and gives her time to experiment with the complexity of form. Her goal is to create sculptures that challenge the viewer, recognizing that the form does not necessarily have to be complex to meet this goal. "There's a fine line between what looks good and having nothing to look at anymore," she says.

James breaks tradition when it comes to the finishes on her pots. By painting each piece with multiple layers of acrylic paint, she creates finishes that are simultaneously complex and natural, making the composite material of this work hard to place. Is that stone? you might ask, looking at an opalescent translucent sculpture that has the fire of a naturally occurring stone finish. Can that dark obelisk be onyx? No, it's a handbuilt clay form, with layers of red, yellow and blue paint, skillfully applied to create a black depth that is difficult not to stare at for minutes on end. In contrast to this perfection, a glance at the "unfinished" interior of these vessels hint at the raw materials, time, and skill invested.

James' newest collection is split into three movements: layering, transparency and solids. In the first two movements, the finishes are explorations of color where decorative patterns add to the voice of the piece. When asked for the title of one of the layered sculptures she has left untitled, James insists it remain that way, but confides that in her mind this work, one of her smaller vessels finished in burnt umbers and white splashes, is titled "bird shit on a rock." She waves her hand reluctantly towards her other work. "That one's the blues of a Vermont silo...this is Jasper John's pink," she says. James' reticence to title and describe the influences in her work make it clear that she rather the form speak for itself. This is why in her most recent movement, solids, color is smoothed to a uniform sheen in order to emphasize the shape of the work itself. It is these later sculptures, painted in primary hues, golds, and milk whites, that show in their subtlety her confidence as sculptor and painter.

"When I was painting on flat surfaces, I made abstract horizons, Red Sky, Blue Sky, then painted devices in these environments to remind the audience of the thoughts I wanted to create. In one painting, a water horizon, I added an ore and titled the piece Iron Ore to express how hard it is to get through some things. But in sculpture, device is the form and color is the feeling," James says, explaining the complex process of defining her work in a few words.

Defining her work for the commercial art market has meant walking the line between fine art and design. There is a tendency to label ceramics as pottery, but this work is non-functional sculpture. Finding galleries that walk this line has been difficult. However, James recent selection into the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art's Emerging Artist Exhibition and in two mixed media shows in Upstate New York and Connecticut is sure to change that.