Jody Greenman Barber: FLOW
September 26, 2025 - January 4, 2026
Artist Statement
“Inspired by contemporary dance and improvisation, I make ceramic sculptures that record and convey the essential feeling of embodied sensations in forms that derive from pottery concepts and methodologies. My work can be summarized as process-based experimentation with an interest in pursuing advancements in technique and expression. Exploring through a dynamic process of making and experimentation, I incorporate multi-disciplinary activities (e.g., dance, improvisation, drawing, film, and photography) with the intention to create innovative works that are animated and expressive.
In my studio practice, I have been exploring processes and techniques specific to ceramics, forming pots that reference their creation on the wheel but that also go beyond tradition and venture towards sculpture and dance. I'm interested in language that is expressed through the body in its more physical or active state. The energy that resonates in the body and what it has to say in response to experiences, stories, and perceptions is uniquely compelling and commanding. How the body moves through its actions in response to feelings (despair, anger, joy, love, pain, etc.,) packs a powerful punch in just a simple gesture or shift in the body. It's this language through movement of the body in its most present and tell-tailing state that directs my research and practice. Throughout my career, I have been exploring the relationship between body, form, language and expression with the intention to capture not only the illusion of movement in my ceramic sculpture, but also an embodied sensation. I draw upon contemporary dance and improvisation as a source for inspiring designs that I can echo in my ceramic work.
I work intuitively and improvise throughout the construction process with the intention to capture a bodily expression. Improvisation is a methodology that I employ in my ongoing practice; it supports processes that allow me to challenge, develop and discover innovative methods of working in the field of ceramics technically, conceptually, emotionally as well as physically. I am most interested in how improvisation juxtaposes spontaneity (impulsive actions) and intuition (embodied knowledge) in an immediate action and how this relates to concepts of time. In my process, I deliberately focus on improvisational activities that involve physical movements of my body as a means to connect with and understand the sensation or feeling of a gesture in motion.”
- Jody Greenman-Barber
Artist Bio
Jody Greenman-Barber has a BFA (1998) and MFA (2016) in ceramics from the University of Regina. Throughout her career, Greenman-Barber has participated in residency programs including the Medalta International Residency program in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Red Lodge Clay Centre, Red Lodge, Montana (2023), and the International Research Centre for Ceramic Arts at the Guldergaard in Skaelskor, Denmark (2025). She has received widespread peer and academic recognition for her work as demonstrated through numerous grants (regional and national), scholarships, and awards she received including the Saskatchewan Innovation and Opportunity Graduate Scholarship in 2014 and runner up for the Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics (2014). Her works have also been included in significant exhibitions featuring Canadian Ceramics such as the Canadian Exhibition at the International 2021 Ceramics Conference and curated exhibition, Thrown, showcasing a selection of artists from across Canada at the Touchstone Museum and Art Gallery, Nelson, BC (2019). In addition to this, Greenman-Barber has also been selected into reputable international ceramic biennale competitions in Korea and Japan including the Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale in Icheon, Korea (2015 & 2019) and the International Ceramic Festival in Mino, Japan (2017). In 2010, her short film Clay Play was screened with Ateliers d’Art de France 7th International Film Festival on Clay and Glass with additional screenings at the Centre de Ceramique Contemporaire de la Borne, and at Malicorne Espace Faïence in Malicorne-sur-Sarthe, France. She has also held numerous teaching positions for community programming and as a post-secondary sessional at the University of Regina, First Nations University of Canada, and the Ottawa School of Art. Jody Greenman-Barber resides and works in Buena Vista, Saskatchewan.