Artist Statement

What I love about ceramics is the opportunity to find and create beauty in the everyday. Having lived in the suburbs of Dallas for most of my life, I am aware that I have a taste for something more than the franchised restaurants, strip malls, and mass-produced homes that the suburbs have to offer. Although my preference would be for most things in our world to be created through the lens of asking “What’s beautiful?” Rather than “What works?”, my pots are a piece of this world that I have been given; where I get to create through the lens of asking, “What’s beautiful?”

Usually when I am making work for mid-range firing, I am more detailed in my surface decoration, whereas when I’m able to use high-fire reduction and atmospheric kilns, I focus more on form with lighter decoration as the firing elements and glaze chemistry get to take center stage. Drawing inspiration from nature, movement, and human relationships in my decoration, I aim to portray and accentuate dynamics of human life that bring restoration and healing to the human soul.

Why functional ceramics?

I like to make objects, familiar yet new, that pull at something in the human soul, reminding it of what it hungers for, that we can miss in the hurry of our modern world. Functional pots provide an intersection for both utility and beauty, often being used around the table - a common but sacred space where relationships are forged through the mundane act of sharing a meal. Maybe it's the bowl that your dad uses for his nightly ice cream or the plates your mom pulls out around Christmas. There's a sentimentality to it. Your favorite mug. Your grandma’s dinnerware set that was eaten off of every time you had dinner there. Ceramics have been central to human life since recorded history and it still finds its way into homes all over the world today. In an instant pot world, functional ceramic vessels, and the process to make them, invite us back to a slower way.