
My current work is made from white earthenware.
Slip-casting is the first technique I use. Basic forms are cast, often altered,
then put together, and altered again.
I often use sewing techniques, such as taking darts and tucks, and clipping curved
seams, to create contours. It is as I manipulate the cool, smooth clay that I begin
to experience texture, and to contemplate the interplay between differing textures.
Texture is further addressed in the surface information, as I present
the rough clay body, clothed only in color, alongside a shiny, complex glazed pattern,
draping a winged appendage.
The viewer is invited into a physical relationship with
the work, whose velvety raiments bely its actual composition. The textural experience
is enhanced by the sensation of touch.
Of great interest to me are my fetish forms and carvings. They are
deeply personal, referring to the life-giving forces at work outside my window and
inside my body, offerings to the nature spirits.
Presented alone and in conjunction with other pieces, they reflect the gift of clay,
the lingering touch.
The clay vessel itself has such history, moving, with mankind,
onward from the nomadic life to food-storing and community-building; then making
the leap to pure personal expression.
My work is a celebration of my dwindling - but still-existing ability to
concentrate! It is presented in honor of the moment. It is made in honor of living.
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