Matthew Hardwick the Studio Technician for James Madison University will show a collection of "Butterfly Plates" in the Sawhill Memorial Gallery at JMU from February 2nd - 13th, 2026. These plates are sculptural vessels fired here in the Shenandoah valley in a local wood fired kiln. They were pressed into a mold that was cut from a block of wood with a chainsaw. Only glazed on the interior of the vessel one can see glaze and clay recipes created by the artist but completed by flame. Firing in a wood kiln continues the artists use of process not only as a means, but as an underlying principle of his work.
