Handbuilt Ceramics 1993 – 2005 and present

Clay has played an important role in my development as an artist from an early age.   While earning my undergraduate degree I rediscovered clay as an immediate, expressive medium for sculpture.   I began a series of works centered around carving, invented hand building techniques and a mythical narrative that came to me piece at a time over the course of six years that culminated in the series titled “Evolution vs Gravity”.   

In the fall of 1999, I was given the opportunity to freely acquire some commercial plaster molds and took as many as I could fit in my pickup.  After a transitional period, I decided to make a hard break from hand carving into a new series of assemblage using only slip caste elements. This series, later titled “Play Decay”, was based on a subversion of the found kitsch motif of the plaster molds and an expression of abject, visceral horror.  I continued with this series until I decided to start using found materials other than ceramics to construct larger scale sculpture and installations. 

In recent years, I have occasionally returned to ceramics.  I am interested in synthesizing several of the different media and techniques I have used throughout my art career into a new series.    An example of this is substituting ceramic glaze and stain with epoxy resin.