Nancy Jurs

Forget about the seduction of technique and materials, Nancy Jurs uses the intrigue of 'ideas.'  Jurs' sculpture offers a direct invitation through straight forward themes that are as equally inert as they are capable of mixing it up.  A paradox -- perhaps, because as quickly as the basic idea is recognized, a powerful emotional exercise is set into motion, bringing immediate critical attention to the work.  A questioning about the simplicity of the subject, whether a fish, teapot, or heart, involves moments for the viewer as an advocate and as a detractor, sometimes back and forth, going from a self-assured understanding to a self involves story.  What is even more outrageous or magnificent, is the obsessiveness of this process.  The most successful of Jurs' sculptures provide an unrelenting arousal to reclaim critical involvement over and over again.  

Recently, Jurs has been working with a strong conviction to shift perceptions, particularly her own.  She has described this change in general focus as "a liberating involvement that finally gets at some answers.  For too long, comments and my own thoughts about about my work have been driven by the kindred spirits of clay.  As I began to take my ideas into an economy where the issues of clay are abstracted, I have been able to feel the presence of my work not having to struggle with the dichotomy of the material of clay.  Simply stated, what I feel I am now achieving brings my work away from a discussion about how clay has made my ideas happen, to one about my ideas.  Clay happens to be the material, but it doesn't have to be the focus."