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ARTIST STATEMENT

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I am endlessly fascinated with the diversity of nature and I spend as much time as possible just being out-of-doors. I have a strong connection to the land. As a gardener, the son of a farmer, and an outdoor enthusiast I have spent much of my life studying and exploring the fauna and flora around me. It is this background that asserts itself in my work.

The surface decoration of my work is more about energy and the life-force and flow of nature than a reference to any particular plant forms. I often use the leaf, the vine, the sprout, or spiral as a visual vehicle to express that energy and life that I feel so strongly when immersed in natures abundance and diversity.

I appreciate and seek-out ways to produce random and organic results with clay and glazes. But my attention tends to gravitate back towards the themes of pattern and linear motifs. I use pattern not only to represent energy but at the same time, as a sense of calm and comfort. I love to carve, sculpt, and incise lines to add a tactile dimension to the surface of pottery intended to be held.

My goal is to make people feel compelled to pick up my work; to create a delight to the eye as well as to the touch. If I’m working with particularly attractive clay I often leave some of the surface unglazed to allow the clay itself to communicate its own beauty. I especially enjoy the challenge of finding that balance between form and function - making pieces that function as well as they look.

Ultimately my driving forces as a maker of functional pottery are exploration and experimentation. I am continually trying new approaches and content, new decorative techniques and motifs. This creates an opportunity where one idea leads to another, and on it continues like an on-going visual dialog, an evolution of ideas.