Opening reception: Saturday, July 8th from 5pm – 9pm at the Morean Center for Clay
I am a collector of objects. A piece of gnarled wood or a pebble that serves as a reminder of an intangible experience. Those objects are strewn throughout my life. The floorboard of my car, the shelves in my studio, the forgotten tchotchke in the corner of my room. The negative space created between two trees. The way water shapes the rocks it flows through and roots protrude from their encased concrete limitations. These collections become the foundation for my approach. Those foundations are revealed to be penetrable, subject to evolution.
In the studio, my process begins by using slab built boxes to create a uniform canvas. The use of my hands and tools upon a fixed object initiates formal explorations in tactility. A once detached, impersonal canvas becomes a composition of nature. A river cutting through a canopy or a tree decomposing to reveal the skeletal architecture of its function. While working the clay, I trust my intuition to create texture, depth, complexity and variety. Woodfiring becomes a means to unify the work through an arduous process. Creating variation of color and texture while also marking the work to represent a moment in time.
