artist’s statement


I make vessels that explore the idea of containers as metaphors.

I investigate issues of utility and ritual while expressing my interest in landscape, organic abstraction, Cubism and Constructivism.

I explore these concerns in both painterly and sculptural ways while integrating the ideas of cubist sculpture and abstract painting.
I use hand-building methods and occasionally incorporate wheel throwing and molds as forming tools; in all cases the clay is pushed and stretched exploiting its plastic nature.
 
My vessel forms are comprised of many organically inspired shapes; the parts and pieces I create are built and pieced together to form a greater whole. I am very interested in the painted surface and how the painted surface wraps around a form.
 
My current body of work is focused on the deconstruction of the “cup” and our perception of its use and context.
 
Recent works are abstract physical structures, which are colorfully decorated.
 
Previous pieces explore my interest in landscape.  For instance, one side of a pot is decorated with landscape imagery: a river or stream flows from distant hills, cascading over rocks and crevices as water spills into the viewer’s space. The reverse side is painted with abstract shapes; these shapes are placed like building blocks balancing within the confines of the pot in an effort to redefine the vessel’s form.
 
This interpretation of the complex inter-relationships between art and nature, surface and form, and man’s relationship to his environment, though they are small, these relationships are significant and attempt to draw a personal understanding of the balances in life.
 
Making pots is the art and craft that celebrates the human spirit; it captures the maker’s touch in a material that like humanity is part of a process of transformation and change.