In her art and beyond, Tessy Pettyjohn is looking for tranquility. With A Light in Everything, her second solo exhibition at Silverlens Gallery, Pettyjohn unveils a new series of sculptural clay works with the intention of illuminating forms seen only during the act of meditation, a practice that has long informed her art making process, from concept to creation. 

Meditation is often thought of as an individual exercise, aimed at boosting one’s awareness of the self. To Pettyjohn, it is anything but. Meditation can just as easily bring one closer to others, those in one’s life or those never met, breaking down the divisions that only appear to separate us and highlighting the connections we share. By doing so, it strengthens those connections and creates new possibilities. When enough people bend the singular focus of their minds to a collective goal or desire, namely the proliferation of peace and the cessation of suffering, it can make a tangible difference in the world. 

Recalling her own meditative visions of bold luminous colors without shapes to contain them and ideas that transcend any words to articulate them, Pettyjohn’s process operates on an intuitive and tactile level rather than a cerebral one and relies on reaching a mindset that – similar to a walk among the herbs, fruit trees, and wild plants of her garden at home – involves a stillness and introspection that can only be found when she is alone. 

As one among the vanguard of pottery’s resurgence in the Philippines, Pettyjohn has championed the preservation of traditional firing techniques along with mindfully sourced clays and glazes from across the country. Years spent teaching her craft to countless students, along with residencies in China and Japan, not only firmly embedded her as a member of an artistic community, but it also gave her a first-hand view of the diversity and innovation that springs from a medium she had helped to reestablish. All the while, Pettyjohn’s personal aesthetic has evolved into a visual language that is distinctly her own. 

Building upon her earlier geometric works, Pettyjohn began experimenting with more organic forms with her exhibition titled Cornucopia in 2010. Motivated by experiences such as snorkeling in Palawan or her general passion for nature’s raw beauty, she employed contrasting textures and patterns to create the appearance of living objects reminiscent of corals, algae, and plants. Intricately fashioned through the rhythmic and repetitive movements of her fingers, iterative gestures gather and merge as cohesive patterns that blossom into natural forms.  

Subsequent explorations of this style in the exhibitions Aianthous (2013) and My Garden (2014) found the artist further populating her high-fired ecosystem with even more unique flora. Most recently, in 2019’s Continuous Growth, the artist presented the structures as interjections to seemingly uninhabitable contexts, jutting from blocks of stone or ancient-looking arches, further mining a theme involving the business of living itself; the way it sprouts and spreads with quiet tenacity.  

Now, in works titled Radiance, Pettyjohn’s ceramic organisms no longer jut or interject. They stand fully emerged but they are not alone. Whereas some of the shapes are familiar, occurring previously in isolation or as an outgrowth of another structure, each piece is now a community in itself, with many varied components affixed to a circular base. Although no two features are identical and the glazes produce colors ranging from grounded whites and blues to striking greens and reds, there is harmony in each assemblage. These hybrid constituents, delicately molded and layered, inhabit a fertile realm and are nourished by the sensitivity of their portrayal. More than ever, the effect of these configurations suggests the cups, bulbs, and fronds so often found in nature; practical formations for collecting water and catching the light. Without a direct lineage to any known species in nature, these pieces become singular and self-evident manifestations of the unnamed, quiet light that can be found all around, if you look for it.

- Words by Matthew Jones

Tessy Pettyjohn is a renowned pioneer of Philippine pottery, clay art, and sculpture. Starting her craft in the late 1970s, she has had many shows both here and abroad in her long career. Although she has retired from teaching, she now concentrates on doing her own work for exhibits at her Laguna workshop studio. She continues to explore the use of indigenous Philippine clays, pigments, and minerals for making high fire ceramics and glazes.

Tessy and her husband Jon are at the forefront of ceramic arts in the Philippines. They have developed over many years, masterpieces, which focus heavily on the use of uniquely Filipino materials.