Vessels:
I am interested in building large vessel forms because when they reach a certain scale they seem to take on personalities.  The way they stand alone defines the characteristics of the single vessel.  A tall skinny broad shoulder vessel acts differently than short curvy vessel.  Some times the vessel is left open to viewers at the top sometimes it is more closed off.  Some lean to the side and some can barely support themselves.  When they are viewed in groupings conversations are started.  Groups support each other as often as they can repel each other.  Three, four, five, eight, ten, one hundred. the size of the groupings can greatly affect the viewers experience.  Vessels with similar characteristics can form visual relationships that  invite the viewer to apply their own interpretation.  Creating hypothetical stories the the vessels giving them human like personalities, viewing each vessel as a form and visualizing the negative space, focusing on small details on the surface of the vessel.  How one viewer responds may be very different or quite similar to how another responds to the same vessels.

Clay:
Clay is the most utilized natural material throughout the evolution of man kind.  It is essentially a mixture of different rock powder held together with water.  When the temperature of the clay is above boiling temperature the water is gone but the clay particles are now interlocked so the shape is retained.  When the temperature is  between 1600 and 2200 degrees the clay particles are going through a chemical change which bonds them together permanently.  The higher the temperature goes the more the particles melt into one another.  When the clay is taken to the correct temperature it will remain chemically bonded forever.  It can be broken or slowly eroded away but will never return to it's pre-fired state.  within this process there are countless ways that one can manipulate the process affecting the final color, feel, shape, smell, texture.  Clay has limitless possibilities, it can be made thin and sharp enough to be used as a kitchen knife or it can be molded into bricks and used to construct entire buildings.

Artist statement:

I remember a daydream I had when I was in third grade in which I imagined rising up out of my body and looking down on the world as I flew into space.  First, I rose above the school; I could see all of the rooms from an aerial view.  I continued upward until I could see the city, upwards until the buildings were out of sight, upwards until all I could see was earth, until I could not imagine anything else.  I often find myself overwhelmed as I think about how enormous life is.   Human beings are such a small, albeit important, part of the universe.  There are forces (nature, specifically) with which we are constantly colliding throughout our existence.  Humans have a proven ability to manipulate the earth in order to make our lives more comfortable, but we are constantly at the mercy of the natural world.  At the rate we are headed, the human population will undoubtedly overrun the earth and our lives will be forever changed as a result of this tipping of the scales in favor of the burgeoning human race.  In essence, a delicate balance exists between humans and nature, and once that balance is irreversibly skewed, both humans and nature will suffer.  Our survival as a species lies ultimately at the mercy of the universe.

With my work, I pay homage to the beauty that Nature creates, a beauty that can be overlooked due to its apparent chaos.  Things like mud cracks, patches of flowers, rock formations, plant growth, beehives, mineral growth, are what I strive to emulate with my pieces, both in appearance and in the process.  The surfaces on my pieces are achieved by allowing the materials I use interact with each other throughout the process. I constantly test to see what happens when I let different frits and raw materials interact with each other as well as different glazes, clay bodies and firing techniques.

The finished piece is a record of the process it went through: vibrant colors flare up alongside dark metallic surfaces, and smooth, shiny areas are surrounded by rough, cracked textures - all within the beautiful chaos I have created.

Pressed forms:

I create simple forms by using handmade press molds, I use wood or plaster depending on the shape I want to create.  Using molds to create these simple geometric shapes gives the forms a sense of stability that contrasts with the surfaces I apply to these forms.  The process of pressing the clay into the molds creates an infinite amount of cracks and crevices.  The created texture allows the viewer to infer how the clay was pressed into the molds, and I am able to stay silent and not show evidence of my touch.  The texture, along with the thickness of the forms gives them a stone-like feeling.  They look like something that could have been dug up at an archeology site - a record of human interaction with nature.