My work is rooted in observation. My early adulthood informs much of my work. The US Army, Photojournalism, and Law Enforcement heightened my need to be more observant. By using electronics to activate the ceramics sculptures, life is breathed into the otherwise silent object. The work is an attempt to bring to life, and therefore make more accessible, my experiences. I rely on the visceral to comment on the duality and antithetical possibilities in the work. Whether the viewer responds with calm or repulsion, the activated sculptures remain indifferent as they carry on.
I think of the work as adjacent to self-portraits. Atmospheric firing processes are crucial to achieving self-referential sculptures. Soda and wood-firing surfaces reveal the scars, marks, and textures of the maturing process. I think of the glaze firing as the formative years. For some, these years are easy and comfortable, almost happening by sleight-of-hand, yet they mature all the same. For others, these years happen in real-time. The brutality of the formative years and the maturing process leave their marks on and in the vessel, forever serving as a reminder of the past.
Life isn’t always within our control. Often circumstances intervene, and we are left to deal with the outcomes. Instead of fighting against the current, my practice embraces the happenstance. Torn edges, fingerprints, and elements of otherwise sloppy craft create the textures of the imperfect life. It is important for the work to embrace the moment. The reward for this embrace is a deeper collaboration with the clay. The plastic nature of clay makes it the perfect material to record time but, more importantly, the energy that went into the making. It is this give and take between artist and material that I find myself applying the hardwon observational skills.