ARTIST STATEMENT

The ideas behind the work stem from a fascination with the primary quality of Pre-Columbian artwork , the mechanisms and forms of the human body and objects from the industrial world These elements are intuitively mixed and mashed to generate universal forms that have familiarity yet feel new and retain a link to the past or a hint of identity. The new work seems to grow from the previous work and wants to have some unknown function or present the idea of having function. That mystery captures my interest and gives the work a chance for dialogue or interpretation.

The work deals with parts, or arms, or appendages that connect with pins, ball joints, and slots. The idea or sensibility of nestling or fitting one form into another is of concern. Not so much that the viewer can see all that is there but for the maker this is a necessity of "fitting in". The pieces that do not use multiple parts are usually made up of parts that are connected in the wet process but still require notching or the creation of a recession to accommodate the piece that is being joined. This is done for strength and a sense of engineering that needs to be addressed.

Coiling forms has slowly given way to pinching out forms that are joined together to create more complex arrangements or just create a whole form. Pinching is therapeutic, more immediate, more structural with less separations than coil building. There is a primary feeling to simply working the clay with thumbs and hand to compress and stretch a form into being. Though in the end the refining of form eliminates any residue of the forming process. In the future, that texture or imprint of process will be a component or asset to the work.

Growing up in a suburb of Detroit Michigan, exposure to steel and the automotive industry coupled with decay of "Downtown Detroit" impressed on me the effects of weathering and age. On the flip side, the family trips to Northern Michigan, what we call "Up North" exposed me to the weathering of the natural world in the lichen, mosses, shorelines of the great lakes, dramatic changes in seasons, petoskey stones, striking mix of birch and conifers. These influences still feel right to my sense of surface and continue to matter in the choices I make even as my glaze palette becomes more colorful.

Pattern and divisions with line refer back to my use of coil building and my experiences with glass blowing. Stripes and lines feel right and necessary to establish a visual energy within the sculptures. Drawing complements this part of the ceramic process by allowing me to visualize different pattern and surface divisions before the actual glazing process. Each piece may go through 7 to 15 attempts on paper before a solution presents itself. The lines become topographical description of the three-dimensional volumetric form via glaze stripes, or divisions. From here color decisions ultimately dictate the overall success of the decision. The black and white drawings improve the success rate and allow the intuitive process to flourish even after a sculpture is first fired and awaiting glaze.

Clay is alive to me when it is wet or still leather hard. Something happens when the water dries out; suddenly the skin is no longer life like. There is a magic that exists mostly in the leather hard state that excites me. Cool and leather skin that has density and reflects light with rich values. In the past, capturing that essence with terra sigilatta allowed me to get close to that "alive" feeling on the surface of the sculptures. The glaze colors and surfaces that I've developed and employ allow the work to transcend time and place by existing here in the present and often times feeling weathered referencing a past. Using pattern and color have brought an energy that brings the sculptures back to life.

The studio is sometimes more like a lab in that I go in with an idea that sometimes is executed straight up and other times it morphs or changes and brings change to the next piece or pieces. The intuitive solutions that are generated to finish one piece will actually create the next or become a primary element in the next sculpture. Along with this, the formal elements of design are never left out and often help manage the experimentation that is going on with the clay and on paper with sketching and drawing. Those days when the energy in the studio is flowing, everything seems to fit and solutions are easy to come by.

I use the formal aesthetics of visual weight, volume, line, texture, symmetry and balance to develop visual stability and tension within my work.
Allowing my personality to influence the objects by letting a sense of humor balance the formality created through craftsmanship and engineering gives the objects an intriguing point of contrast. I believe this communicates a sense of honesty and accessibility.

Scale has long been an important element in my work and currently has shifted to a smaller scale. The rational has to do with immediacy more than kiln limitations or space issues. The work wants to come out and come out now. Rapid visualization is a real key to getting closer and closer to the essence of what one is trying to make.