Artist Statement

If I could tell you for a moment, about magic. I would tell you about the things that I see when I step outside. The things that make me smile. I hope you would smile too, when you thought of the first yarrow stems poking through the muddy spring ground, fuzzy and new. At the robinsong with the smell of a wet winter fading away. I hope you would laugh with the mob of crows that forms in the winter time. I hope that in time, you will be able to show me your favorite paths through the woods. The lives that you would cross and cross again, the next day. Would you learn to know the specific trees on your route? Would you remember them years later? I can still recall a few of my favorites. The ponderosa pine that was the best view, the one that took me years to get big enough to climb. The crooked douglas fir, the one I used to sit under, sit and watch. The two cedar trees across the street, with the slanted branches. I hope that you would be able to tell me of the lives you had chanced across there. The nuthatches that you met in the branches, the baby robins learning to fly under the boughs. I hope you could tell me of the smells of the different seasons and the history of the trees, the limbs that they lost and the bird nests that come and go. I hope that you would learn the places that had owls and the best sunning spots when the spring had not quite sprung. I hope that if I told you about the magic of my woods, you would never need a map in yours and you could walk through a field of memories. I hope you could tell me a story about each one.

 In my work in ceramics I aim to create points of connection with people and the outdoors. I use imagery and sculpture to inspire a feeling of familiarity which might lead you to smile, and remember a moment of memory. My work provides context for someone to step outside and relate to the stories that happen there. For them to be a part of those stories. These pieces come from my experience and my sense of home as they represent the magic that I feel when I am outside. They come from my memories and are brought to you by my hands. They do not live to be read in the way a paper would be, so they are three dimensional to allow you to walk around, and step into my fondest memories. I create large vessels to take my pieces outside of a reductive view on ceramics as mugs and bowls and focus on them as a part of life.  I use high fire stoneware to create sculptural vessels which maintain utilitarian purpose, which is a reflection of a properly functioning ecosystem, one that we need to use, and that holds up the animals that animate it and make it beautiful. I Glaze the pieces with ash based glasses to use materials that are tied to organic matter and the land, which allows me to have more flow, movement and reflection of the natural world.