Toni De Jesus is a ceramic artist who recently graduated from Cardiff Metropolitan University and is currently based in the Incubation Space at the Cardiff School of Art and Design.
Toni’s work and ethos is centred around the idea of ceramics’ strong association with craft, both as a material and through its context within the fine art spectrum.
It has been common to describe the position of craft as a borderline area between fine art and design. Jorunn Veiteberg (2005) prefers to call this the ‘intervening space’ or to be more precise, the space between function and non-function, tradition and breaking with tradition, craftsmanship-based art and idea-based art. Questions raised by these ideas resonate through Toni’s practice; a fusion of coil building and levels of flux cause the boundary of each form to literally oscillate as if in rejection of any attempt at fixed definition.
These ideas are further investigated by his exploration of composition and display, referencing the domestic, the familiar everyday home where ceramics is encountered, to the porcelain rooms of palaces and stately homes.
Mae Toni De Jesus yn arlunydd cerameg a raddiodd yn ddiweddar o Brifysgol Metropolitan Caerdydd ac ar hyn o bryd mae wedi’i leoli yn y Gofod Deori yn Ysgol Gelf a Dylunio Caerdydd.
Mae gwaith ac ethos Toni yn canolbwyntio ar y syniad o gysylltiad cryf cerameg â chrefft, fel deunydd a thrwy ei gyd-destun o fewn y sbectrwm celf gain.
Mae wedi bod yn gyffredin disgrifio safle crefft fel ardal ffiniol rhwng celfyddyd gain a dylunio. Mae’n well gan Jorunn Veiteberg (2005) alw hwn yn ‘ofod ymyriadol’ neu i fod yn fwy manwl gywir, y gofod rhwng swyddogaeth a diffyg swyddogaeth, traddodiad a thorri gyda thraddodiad, celf sy’n seiliedig ar grefftwaith a chelf sy’n seiliedig ar syniadau. Mae cwestiynau a godir gan y syniadau hyn yn atseinio trwy arfer Toni; mae ymasiad o adeiladu coil a lefelau fflwcs yn achosi i ffin pob ffurf oscilio’n llythrennol fel pe bai’n gwrthod unrhyw ymgais i gael diffiniad sefydlog.
Ymchwilir ymhellach i’r syniadau hyn trwy ei archwiliad o gyfansoddiad ac arddangos, gan gyfeirio’r cartref, y cartref cyfarwydd bob dydd lle deuir ar draws cerameg, i ystafelloedd porslen palasau a chartrefi urddasol.
