Process
This page serves as an intimate look into motivations and hard fought knowledge of the materials I revolve around. From porcelain sculpting to kiln firing to paper cutting and everything else, I am continually learning and growing as a maker and thinker. My process is full of curiosity and labor. This is how I choose to spend my time, my life. Consistent evolution married with spiraling interests, my relationship with material process is a conversation. Let me tell you some stories I know so far.
Kiln Firing
Kilns turn clay into ceramics. The saturation of heat physically shifts the atoms into a tight matrix. A piece going into the initial firing could instead be dropped into a bucket of water and crumble back into soft mud. However, after going through the metamorphosis a proper kiln firing provides, a piece can last 10,000 years.
From the thousands of objects I've put through firings in the past 20 years, I've learned that there is a balance between necessary material exploration and the responsibility of creating objects that can last a portion of forever and the energy the whole process takes.
Creating Installations - feast, freeze, waterline
From the energy of mixing clay to firing many kilns, as well as the labor of creation, a frenzy is necessary to make these worlds. The work is fueled by a curiosity to see it through. There is no space for doubt or reason with this type of work, only a flow of labor that is my favorite way to live.
Learn more about the process of creating installations.
Porcelain Pottery
The porcelain I use for installations and sculptures is the very same that I create translucent handmade pottery with. Wheel thrown with thin walls before being trimmed and lightly carved with an x-acto knife, I like to think of my pottery as both indulgent and utilitarian.
With blushes of color and line work that echoes the cut paper designs I create, each piece is one of a kind.
Learn more about the process of creating translucent porcelain pottery.
Cutting Paper, and the designs to come
I have been using an x-acto knife to create imagery with fine lines and crisp edges in paper for two decades. It is a medium I step away from and always come back to. Cut paper feels like lace making but somehow more ethereal, and every design I make is designed on the back of a page. Much like the surprise of opening a kiln, I don't see the full complete design until I finish every cut and turn the paper over. of cutting paper.
Learn more about the process of cutting paper.
Sculpting Porcelain
Porcelain is a famously fickle material. It is both slippery and thixotropic between my fingers as I pinch coils and slabs of clay into sculptures.
I am drawn to replicating natural patterns, though my inspiration often shifts to surreal interpretations during the sculpting process.
I often mix stains or metal dust into the clay before sculpting it, or drench it with pigment afterward. The porcelain I prefer is also translucent after firing, and not only holds the print of my fingertips but also self-glazes.
Learn more about the process of sculpting with porcelain, and the inspiration that fuels my work.
Creating an MFA Thesis (during a covid lockdown)
