I was truly impressed by Doherty’s productions and his thoughtful approach to his activity, as I looked through his website. He is a potter, as you can see, but through the years he has come down to the very essence of our human and cultural condition with those superbly simple vases, based on and evocative of the ones from our prehistoric ancestors: extremely old, but, in their sheer simplicity, nevertheless so charged with deep, timeless content. Yes, his pots are decorative and yes, they can hold things too, but, through his quest, Jack has imbued them, too, with the unmistakable accent of true cultural assets.
Jack was born in Co Derry and went through art studies in Belfast, but in recent years he has settled in Conwall. Being a potter may seem a little thing today…, but I think Jack is ‘only’ a potter in the same way Alvar Aalto was ‘just’ an architect… In Doherty’s case, being this kind of artisan, ‘just’ a potter, elevates him far over the category of an artist!
