2023

Protea plants growing on my sister's land on Maui have become a focus of my recent floral sprigging. The ash and flame of the wood kiln emphasize details. The exploration of color in wood firing is a continuing enigma for me.

This work represents my interest and translation of architecture and manufacturing techniques, and the multiple planes of 3 dimensional objects influenced by the principles of De Stijl, a Dutch art movement of the early twentieth century.

With acute attention to detail, I hand craft my smoke fired ceramics as an antidote to our fast paced technological lives. This vessel reflects the way bark moves and changes through the seasons, with the growth of a tree. Soft winter grey skies, the quiet white of snow, and the bleak beauty of the trees in the Berkshire forest, inspired this piece.

My pots are contemporary; the designs I use are ancient. The wading birds on this vessel are based on petroglyphs done by the Taíno people of the Dominican Republic. To make my pots look as time-worn as the petroglyphs that inspire them, each piece is wrapped in iris leaves and placed in its own container before being put in the kiln. As I work, I am engaged in conversations that span millenia, allowing me to listen and respond to the work of artisans who lived in the distant past.

This vase form embodies my fascination with anthropomorphic vessels, integrated pattern and form, and especially, the "clayness"of clay. Using this new technology of 3D clay printing expands my possibilities of creating ceramic forms. I now ponder in what ways I might bring my tactile self into the digital sphere.

In addition to my love for music, I am also inspired by musical instruments as works of art.  I have crafted teapots by blending the forms of stringed instruments and French Horns.  With the accordion, I’m drawn to the integration of form and function, its aliveness.  One of the challenges was to depict this teapot as containing music in motion.

This is one of a series that grew from a commission to create an Alice in Wonderland teapot.  I was drawn by the challenge of blending so many disparate motifs by way of incorporating a variety of materials and techniques.  The rabbit, the queen of hearts, trumpets, and pocket watches conspired for a painstaking flight of fancy.

This is the result of one slab and a 12 minute challenge to make a cylinder and alter it. I was told my completed form looked like a circus performance.... so I ran with that and chose this whimsical decor.

Disconnect approaches the mental health effects of the pandemic. The narratives rotate around the teapot in a whirlwind as if to signify the tornadic effects of quarantine and a lack of social interaction. Finding the beauty in recovery and perseverance, I used landscape and imagery related to my personal struggle to suggest that "you are not alone".

This triple combined vase brings together a lifetime of personal experiences. From love to loss, we all encounter the earned wisdom of time. Allowing the viewer to take their own life experiences into account, I have attempted to use minimal text and universal imagery to engage the senses.