Why Make Art?

Influenced by shapes and patterns found in urban landscapes and nature, my current work searches beneath the surface, paring forms down to its essence and revealing the structures surrounding us. I find beauty in the elemental and unadorned, the slightly brutal forms often hidden in plain sight. Using repetition as a powerful building block, I explore structure through modularity, space, surface and texture. The forms can be monolithic or composed of hundreds of elements. I’m driven by the challenge to create quiet simplicity from the many and discovering an almost meditative beauty in the textures created, Using clay as my primary medium, I hand build all forms often maintaining the unglazed natural clay body and focusing on the rhythmic gestures and elemental structures I’m seeking.

Everyday experience and memories are the tiny slivers of life built one atop the other. Sometimes they mold comfortably together, other times the jagged-edged moments will poke and tear at their neighbors.  My current work explores the sometimes tenuous structures of identity and our attempt to hold all the disparate pieces together. Those structures can be overbearing or so fragile to be on the verge of collapse. What binds those elements of self is a source of inspiration and exploration

Strongly influenced by years of architectural practice, my work combines architectonic forms and organic surfaces.  Recently, I returned to school at the Oregon College of Art and Craft pursuing post-baccalaureate studies in sculptural ceramics. Seeking to integrate art and design, I strive to marry both an intuitive response to clay and my design background.

I welcome exploring opportunities to create unique art installations or commissioned work!