My final aesthetic goal is achieved when I feel that I have shared with the viewer my love of the processes I use to make the piece. It is only enhanced when I am confident that they will want to touch and look at the final piece and maybe even share it to celebrate their own excitement for the visual world.

Statement

I love process. Process is detail. The big picture is great and should be recognized but I revel in the smallest instance of something. I notice the color of a flower’s petals, the way that my father remembers all of the lyrics to the songs that were popular when he was a younger man and the way that my mother knows exactly how to set a beautiful table for any celebration. Details evoke memories.

I carefully consider each step from testing engobes to choosing clay and glazes and all the while enjoying where each step leads me.  One good thing leads to another. The imagery that I select to add to the surface of each piece reflects some detail that needs to be seen, in my opinion. It might be a polka-dot, a face card from a deck of cards or even an octopus. All are recognizable. However, it might be an image that leads to a memory. It might be something that the viewer has not seen in a long time. Details are moments where we as the perceivers slow down and take note of the smallest, tiny-tiniest elements that make up our world.

The world is a busy hectic place these days. I encourage slowing down a step or two. Try to remember a time when you were not so busy, when you had time to have a cup of coffee with a great conversationalist. Or time to sit on a beach or in a park and listen to the sounds other than your text messaging alert tone, and see the little pieces of visual information happening all around. I imagine these possibilities while I am creating each and every piece of pottery.

I am influenced by nature, art, history, lyrics from songs, books, my grandmother’s stories, family gatherings, childhood toys, vintage ads and the list continues. An era that I represent in my work is pre-1970. I see that time in modern history, before technology invaded our daily lives, as a time when people related face to face with each other and their surroundings, when coffee cups were the hand held devices that you would hold while chatting with your best friend. I aim to create those memories, real or imagined, in anyone who sees my work.

Process

Most of my forms are thrown and then altered. Some are hand built. Each piece is hand painted before the first firing and then a transparent glaze is applied so that the underglazes and engobes show through and the piece is fired again. I use two clay bodies and two glazes. I use a limited palette of engobes and underglazes but I am continuously testing to find new and exciting colors. I take pleasure in the fact that my forms are similar but not identical.