Saltstone Ceramics

“My name is Jem Tong. Pottery is my home medium but I enjoy dabbling in just about everything else. My personal work is mainly in clay instruments and moving, dynamic carvings. I have taught since 2022 in CA and WA, and been touching clay since 2014: I love sharing the grounding nature of shaping things with your own hands and meeting so many cool people that pottery attracts

As a little neurodivergent q***r asian kid, I was shaped by my environment to be small, don’t rock the boat, and put consideration of others above yourself. I spent a lot of frustrating years trying to fit myself into spaces that were very clearly designed for someone else. I’ve been on a journey to rediscover tenderness on my own terms, and not as a concession to the colonial/assimilatory mindset I grew up with.

This body of work explores forms that are more wild and unrestrained with pops of vibrant colors. The shapes are unconventional and sometimes abrasive to the touch, but they were sculpted with love: and best of all, they are unapologetically my own.”

Art + Craft processes are a place of deep listening for me. As a mental health professional - turned - artist, I currently find myself in a chapter of coming home to the language of craft in such a way that makes space for not only my own voice, but the voices of the materials I am working with. When crafting with my hands, I am also creating a space for continued self- growth while simultaneously developing relationships with the community of collaborative mediums I’ve come to know in this work, including clay, fiber, fire, and warp tension, among others. 

The combination of ceramics and fiber arts is one that evokes a sense of tension for both me and the viewer. Simultaneously engaging in ceramics and fibers processes constantly reminds me to balance & rebalance support and tension with the ultimate goal of radical acceptance for the outcome of these processes. These creative processes show me through-lines to the larger work at hand in the world, including unearthing hidden strengths in others, taking time to be with the process instead of focusing on the product, the value of slow making/building, appreciating what nature has to offer and say, and the power of community when each collaborator can contribute something unique and precious in the larger network.
 
In a time where those of us who live in the United States find ourselves faced with aggressive oppression, political violence, ethnic cleansing, and ultimately the day-to-day experience of living under power-hungry capitalist tyrants that leads to all of these atrocities, the essential nature of building connection and trust with each other becomes more and more necessary. For me, this work asks us several questions: who are you bound to? How is that connection supportive or tense? How is there beauty and pain present in both the support and tension? How do you make those connections sustainable despite the pain, and how do you hold space for both the grief/loss and hope we are faced with?

Maddie creates tiny ceramic vessels, about 1 inch tall. Each one will hold something for you. Physically, that might be a dried flower, or your cat’s whiskers. Emotionally, it could be a secret, or a hope. Each amulet is infinite: when they are filled with what nourishes you, they will never run out. And when they are filled with what depletes you, they will never run over.

Statement: “Whatever Shape We’re In, We’re In It Together” is a collection of tiny wheel-thrown vases with unique contours. Some are more traditionally revered shapes, some playful, some deliberately off-kilter or harder to define. Each vase boasts the same pride flag surface design. The collection embodies the radical support we give each other, no matter what we’re going through. Whatever shape we’re in, we’re in it together.