Exhibition: Jesse Albrecht: Vessels of War & Recovery

Jesse Albrecht’s exhibition, Vessels of War and Recovery, comprises 10 large pieces of wheel-thrown pottery. These are painted with underglaze and stamped with artifacts worn and carried by him while deployed in Iraq. This work takes an unflinching and humorous look at his autobiographical journey to war and the long, hard way home.
 “My pots are formed like the Iraq war poorly, and the surface is an attempt to mimic that of Iraq as well,” said Albrecht. “I use underglaze in a painterly manner to convey an emotional range from humor to horror making each pot a unique composition of Iraq and coming home. Contemporary and historical are in juxtaposition. Historical military objects, specifically nose art of WWII and Zippos from Vietnam along with Empire pots of Europe and Asia, are influential.”
This exhibition originated at the Schoolhouse History & Art Center (SHAC) in Colstrip, Mont., and was organized by SHAC’s Executive Director, Kayla de la Ossa. It is sponsored by the Montana Art Gallery Directors Association (MAGDA), a state-wide service organization for nonprofit museums and galleries, and supported in part by grants from the Montana Arts Council, a state agency funded by the State of Montana; coal severance taxes paid based upon coal mined in Montana and deposited in Montana’s Cultural and Aesthetic Projects Trust Fund; and the National Endowment for the Arts.