Jayden Star, Lonesome Moon Ceramics at Faust Galleries
Jayden Starr is a breath of fresh air in the contemporary Western art market. Her ceramic pieces feature vintage-style Western imagery inspired by the landscapes, wildlife, history, and visual traditions of the American West. They have inspired an entirely new collector base for functional ceramics, and collectors across the country are dusting off their parents’ china cabinets to hold her new creations.
Starr has been working in the studio to produce an entirely new line of work for her gallery debut, happening Friday, November 6, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Faust Galleries in Santa Fe.
“For the first time ever, Lonesome Moon Studios is going live and in person,” says Starr. “After years of making, painting, packing, shipping, and sharing my work with people through a screen, getting to finally stand in a gallery surrounded by my work—and hopefully meet some of you in person—feels pretty damn special.”
Starr, raised in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and now based in Prescott, Arizona, has a BFA in Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking. She approaches her works in clay much like a painter, using wheel-thrown forms as canvases for detailed imagery and layered, painterly surfaces. These ceramic pieces draw from historical photographs, vintage Americana, rodeo culture, wildlife, and the people and stories that have shaped the region.
“The West has always felt like home to me,” says Starr. “I grew up in Idaho surrounded by mountains, wildlife, and people connected to Western life—cattle ranchers, barrel racers, horse trainers—and my grandmother put me on a horse when I was very young.”
For Starr, it is important that these pieces be seen as fine art objects while also maintaining their original functions as pitchers, plates, butter dishes, vases, or whatever else she decides to create.
