because I know they ’ re available . I think the vocabulary that comes from that material is something that I ’ m beginning to do more intentionally , but I really enjoy reading into it after the fact .
How do you become inspired by these everyday materials and decide to use them ? The honest answer ? I think anybody that fires kilns is like ‘ Oh shit , I can melt that . Let ’ s do this !’
A lot of your sculptures are either unglazed or they look more raw and natural like they came out of the ground . Why do you choose to go that route instead of more traditionally glazing them or coating them with some kind of finish ? I have a background in functional pottery and traditional work . Glaze is an amazing and beautiful thing , but it has to be used appropriately . It would be really easy for me to say ‘ I like the work raw because it speaks directly to the quality of the material ’ and that is true . That clay is its own skin . That skin has so many different shades and textures that it can take of its own accord . Glaze often hides those . But I think , more than that , the natural quality of the material is one of the things that draws me to working with it . So if I am using glazes , it ’ s probably to highlight something or because I think that bold and beautiful color , or texture , is called for .
Talking about the work itself , the form of the work , I find that they ’ re almost romantic . They very much have a relationship with earth and man . Do you see within the clay the figure , the shape , or is it more of a relationship that is occurring over time ? That ’ s a good question . I think I see a lot of the forms that I want to make prior to going into it , and it ’ s i m p o s s i b l e for me not
Labor Pool , ceramic to see them
in clay . This is my material . The surface , the color , the texture - it is something that is inherent to my mode of thinking when I begin a body of work , or begin a project . To go back to the word romantic , I think it ’ s interesting . To romanticize something is to imbue it with all of the best and almost impossible qualities it could have . And it ’ s really easy when you ’ re romanticizing something to come from the opposite direction and cut deep right underneath it . It ’ s really easy to see the bitter , to see the unfair , to see a lot of the not right that comes from the romantic side of something . So , walking
Rainbow Bridge , ceramic & oxide pigment
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