Hand Built

My handbuilt work is all one of a kind. I use Earthenware clays and a variety of glazes, slips and underglazes to create unusual, seductive surfaces; slick and wet, dry and parched or somewhere in between. The pairing of these surfaces interests me because one highlights what's interesting about another.

I use slabs, pinching, carving, and parts of found and original molds, altering them and rearranging them to suit my vision. I'm always looking for play in work. I define play as a sense of not really knowing what is going to happen next despite being involved in a process that is very familiar, almost comfortable, even repetitive. In play there is also a chance of winning, defined as a moment of pure magic. Since working with heat, chemicals and elements is a collaboration always, I am challenged by an awareness that my ambitions with the clay may be brought down by these other players at any time.

The imagery itself comes from many sources - history, mythology, daily life - filtered through my perspective which includes feeling confused by much of what I see happening in the world. Most of the time I interpret with humor, albeit with a barbed edge. I work to spell out contradictions I experience through shape and imagery, tyring to participate in an instinctual way.

I choose clay because it is a silent, sensual medium which registers any moment with complete honesty, mirroring my approach to it in ways that are not always easy to accept. Clay also has a life cycle. I can teach it different things at different times and it is a new beast from one stage to the next. Close attention must be payed to these transitions, so in the end, it works me.