Artist Statement

My pieces are colorful and decidedly decorative. Flowers assertively traverse the form, creating an active dialogue between form and decoration. There is a painterly quality to my work that is produced by a physical layering of ceramic materials and the orchestration of color and motifs in slip and glaze. Simple motifs unfold to create layers of color, pattern and image, resulting in rich, decorative surfaces.

My work plays upon earthenware's association with nostalgia and tradition but also acknowledge the material's rich history imitating more valued materials such as porcelain and bronze. I consciously use materials and processes that move between categories of value. My clay is dense and ringing like porcelain, but its earthenware color retains associations of folk and tradition that have deep emotional appeal. The forms and slip-work reinforce this hybridization of cultural values. Awkward, folksy flowers traverse porcelain-thin rims; the rich, red clay peeks through white slip, asserting itself while masquerading as a highly refined material. The slip both hides and reveals, and instead of assigning earthenware to a specific genre, it links my pieces to both high and low culture.

Through layering information, I hope to prolong the process of discovery and create pieces where the decorative structure continues to reveal itself over time. I am interested in building this complexity into my work while exploring where pieces made with this kind of consideration stand in relation to questions of function, value, and place within contemporary culture. On a larger scale, I hope to communicate something about the complexity of life. Layers of meanings, motives, and desires conflict and coexist with one another. And, while this may be challenging, there is a certain beauty and rhythm to it.