Jack Tilson is an artist who lives in New Lynn, Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland). He studied art at the Dunedin School of Art and completed a Master of Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Arts in 2015.

"Clay. Fire. Pots.

This is the way I think about pottery. The clay is of the utmost importance to me, as this is the dough to the bread maker, as I often point out to my mates. My clay is made from a variation of stoneware clays and grits, with plenty of iron and flux. Thrown on a wooden kick-wheel, each piece begins to develop its own peculiarities, soft sides are slowly scratched and carved to create non-linear, haphazard surfaces.

The raw pottery is fired in a kiln which I have made from bricks and cobbles, a manifestation of my own love for bricks. It is a very important part of my process, and is burnt using pine and windfall. To reach the desired temperature the fire burns for around 30 hours, sometimes more, and sometimes less. At its peak temperature the sea salt is thrown in. Deliberate textures in the raw pottery enables ash and salt to build up, drawing deep molten greens and browns that capture the light in its glassy reflection."