I Have a Winter Friend
I Have a Winter Friend- Exhibition Image
2021 Available
Blooming Plum Tree Number 2, with Twin Blossoms and Owl
2020 blanc de chine porcelain 21" x 10" x 10" Sold
I Have a Winter Friend Exhibition Shot- Blanc de Chine Blooming Plum Trees
2021 blanc de chine porcelain Available
I Have a Winter Friend- Exhibition Image
2021 Available
Hello Chair
2019 wood and aluminum leaf 35 1/2" x 23" x 20" Sold
Blooming Plum Tree with Twins and Tiny Tiger
2020 blanc de chine porcelain 18" x 10" x 10" Sold
Tree of Happiness and Sadness
2020 blanc de chine porcelain 24" x 12" x 10" Sold
Plum Tree Number 1
2019 blanc de chine porcelain 23 1/2" x 8 5/8" x 7 5/8" Sold
Blooming Plum Tree Number 7, with Bat, Owl, and Sunflower
2020 blanc de chine porcelain 24" x 12" x 10" Available
Plum Tree Number 2
2020 blanc de chine porcelain 23 1/2" x 8 5/8" x 7 5/8" Sold
Blooming Plum Tree Number 8, with Anchor and Choir
2020 blanc de chine porcelain 21" x 10" x 10" Sold
Blooming Plum Tree Number 6, Blood on the Skull of Adam and Guitar Player
2020 blanc de chine porcelain 18" x 10" x 10" Available
Hulu Vase Pair with Aluminum Leaf Peonies and Figure Peering Inside
2021 ceramic 24" x 12" x 12" (each) Sold
Scalloped Table with Aluminum Leaf
2021 wood and aluminum leaf 33" x 43" x 11" Available
Single Hulu Vase with Eggplant Glaze and Aluminum Leaf
2021 ceramic and aluminum leaf 26" x 20" x 20' Sold
Narcissus at the Pool
2020 ink on muslin with aluminum leaf, embroidery floss, and bells 72" x 84" x 1" Available
Enzo Mari Autoprogettazione Chair with Aluminum Leaf
2021 reclaimed wood and aluminum leaf Available
Death of Buddah
2018 ceramic, wood, manilla paper, and fabric 33 1/4" x 24 1/8" x 35 7/8" Sold
Terra Cotta Alphabet Bucket
2021 terra cotta 18" x 14" x 14" Available
Terra Cotta Bucket of Happiness and Sadness
2021 terra cotta 18' x 14" x 14" Available
Terra Cotta Bucket of Safety and Reassurance
2021 terra cotta 18' x 14" x 14" Available
Terra Cotta Bucket - What Liberates?
2021 terra cotta 18" x 14" x 14" Sold
Enzo Mari Autoprogettazione Chair
2021 reclaimed wood Sold
Hello Chair
2019 wood 35 1/2" x 23" x 20" Sold
Owl Table (MYJM)
2020 reclaimed wood 30 1/2 " h x 72" w X 37 1/2" d (37 1/2" x 17" leaves down) Sold
Owl Table (JMMY) - detail
2021 reclaimed wood 30 1/2" h x 17" w x 37 3/4" d Sold
Elefant Candle Stick (detail)
2019 glazed ceramic 12 ½" x 14" x 10 ½" Sold
Animal Jar
2016 glazed terra cotta 13" x 9" x 11" Available
Lotus Belleek Jar
2018 glazed ceramic 15" x 13" x 13" Sold
Elefant Candle Stick
2019 glazed ceramic 12 ½" x 14" x 10 ½" Sold
Brush Pot
2019 porcelain 5 1/2" x 6 1/4" x 6 1/4" Sold
The Farmer from Palouse
2019 glazed stoneware 13" x 6 3/4" x 7 1/8" Available
Tyger Den
2019 glazed ceramic 17 3/8" x 13" x 4" Sold
Water Pot
2019 glazed ceramic and gold lustre 3" x 9" x 9" Available
White Bottle with Peony
2019 glazed stoneware 15 1/8" x 10 1/8" x 10 1/8" Available
Artists
Statement
Jeffry Mitchell
I Have a Winter Friend
On a midnight walk, my friend Frank looked up into the clear, night sky at the constellation Orion and exclaimed, “My Winter Friend!”
I was shocked with delight—what a great way to look at the world, what a great expression. The naming of the winter skies’ stars as friends brings me warm reassurance in a dark and cold season, and simply speaking the phrase “My Winter Friend,” realigns my relationship with the cosmos. It delights me because it both ignites the poetics of nature and lets me hold and treasure all my friendships: cosmic, celestial, and human.
Friendships are keystones to my survival and my work. My friend Barry introduced me to my friend Peter, where he and his friend Ying Jian invited me to their studio in Dehua, China to make the porcelain plum trees that are the heart of this exhibition. The table and chairs that hold the trees were made with my friend Michael, a genius woodworker and longtime friend. My friend Sandra invited me to print posters for the show in the print shop at Georgia College where she teaches. The terra cotta buckets were made by my friend Thomas, who invited me to decorate them. My friend Yoshi introduced me to his friend Matthew who helped me make an invitation. My friend Marjorie invited me to make work at Township 10 and there my friend Kyle, a potter, threw big, gourd shaped vases for me to decorate. Friendship is foundational to this exhibition and to my work.
Recently, I had a health scare and spent four days in the hospital, where my mortality came to lay right by my side. Fear and intense nostalgia invaded my thoughts. While enduring an MRI, the title for this exhibition burst into my mind: “I Have a Winter Friend.” The notion came as a relief and a comfort. Shining stars in a freezing night sky resonate with plum blossoms shivering in the cold— the eternal set next to the fleeting. Ying Jian suggested a poem by Song Dynasty poet Wang Anshi and Peter translated it for me. It seems that, better than my words, this poem works well as an artist’s statement.
A few plum twigs at the corner of the wall,
Blossoming all alone,
Defying the cold,
Even from afar they cannot be mistaken for snow,
For a delicate fragrance comes wafting with the breeze.