ARTIST STATEMENT.

I am an artist, investigator, experimenter, explorer and educator. I digest life through my art-making practice. Making provides a way to continuously educate myself about the world around me and to connect with others. An interest in the visual stories conveyed by inanimate objects underlies all of my work. My recent work has involved several series that visually and metaphorically reference land, maps, strata, geology, and geography. Process and its evidence have emerged as an essential aspect of this work.

My artwork is characterized by experimental abstraction using reclaimed ceramic materials and referencing natural land forms, constantly pushing my materials and processes into new territory. I have developed a low-waste making system by collecting discarded ceramic materials and recycling them into new forms.

Conventional wisdom says never to make solid clay objects, but I have learned how to break that rule. I create my sculptures and wall slabs by slowly pouring layers of colored casting slip and various reclaimed materials—slop clay, cast-aside glazes, discarded, and broken work—into manipulated cardboard box molds. Embracing risk and the unknown, I fire the works to various temperatures, encouraging lower temperature materials to ooze and slump of their own accord. If I feel the work is not yet finished, I slice them with industrial stonecutting saws after firing to reveal fascinating cross sections and material interaction. These objects deliver a monumental impact on a restrained scale, bridging painting and sculpture in three- dimensional abstract expressionism.

Clay is my essential material because I can literally use the earth’s crust as my medium. It is my goal to not only push my work with new forms and materials, but also to push the overall ceramic conversation regarding sustainability and our relationship to the earth. I am committed to developing an environmentally responsible practice, creating compelling art objects that elicit excitement and environmental dialogue.