Untitled (seated newt)

Jordan Van Sewell is a Canadian ceramic artist born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan on July 5, 1954. His early years were spent moving through Prairie towns along the CPR line in Saskatchewan and Manitoba with his siblings. He was introduced to clay in grade 12 and pursued this interest through art school at the University of Manitoba until 1979. After graduation, he returned to work as a brakeman on freight trains, continuing a family tradition as the fourth of three previous generations of railroaders, working branch lines between Manitoba and British Columbia until the elimination of the caboose ended his position.

Van Sewell returned to Winnipeg and in 1989 purchased a home in the historic South Point Douglas neighbourhood, just blocks from the CPR Station where he had once worked as a redcap. His house, built in 1882, has served as both witness to many changes and inspiration for his artwork, with its notable elements often captured in his ceramic sculptures. As he reflects, "I never get tired of sitting on my deck and looking at the skyline of Winnipeg and the Red River. It becomes deeply ingrained in who you are and what you are." His artistic influences range from Charlie Brown and Snoopy to artist Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, cartoonist R. Crumb, and underground illustrator Vaughn Bode.

Working primarily in low-fire ceramics, Van Sewell has developed an immediately recognizable style over five decades that combines whimsy with social commentary. His ceramic sculptures feature colorful creatures, people, vehicles, and buildings that he describes as exploring "what is the answer to all that ails the human condition?" His works, which he calls "cautionary tales," use 200-million-year-old clay "altered and fashioned into meaningful statements" that offer allegorical and symbolic commentary on contemporary life. He explains his approach: "A moral injury is something that erodes that rock-solid foundation that you have been building in life. It's like you're suddenly in this place where trust was eroded for you."

Van Sewell has been active in Winnipeg's arts community, serving on the board of the Winnipeg Art Gallery as Chair of the Works of Art Committee, as Executive Director of the Manitoba Craft Council, and as President of the Board of Directors of Heritage Winnipeg. Through the Artist in the School Program, he has visited rural and northern communities teaching ceramics. His work is held in public and private collections worldwide, including a small ceramic sculpture of a York boat carrying Manitoba symbols that was purchased as a gift for Queen Elizabeth II. Despite the challenges he observes in his Point Douglas neighborhood, Van Sewell maintains hope that art can serve important purposes: "It's remedial, it's therapeutic, it's cathartic — all those things that can result in a greater appreciation for everything around you."