At this point in my life I have been making pots for nearly twenty years or about half of my life. Even though at times I have deviated from functional objects, I continually come back to this format for much of my studio practice. Often viewed as a humble art, pottery continues to be part of the furniture of our lives and offers a level of engagement that is extremely intimate and personal, and I enjoy knowing that my work will make its way into people’s daily lives. The making of pottery engages many points of discussion ranging from issues around sustainability, the role of designer and maker in society, the value of objects and psychological relationships we have to products, and the intimacy and memories we form around artifacts.

While pottery is the primary format I work in, I work in several different clays, temperature ranges, and fire in a variety of kilns. The majority of my work is based around utility and function, though the degree of interpretation of these constraints can vary depending on my intent and design objective. Being a maker of individualized objects allows me to easily dance this line from artist to product designer. Part of my objective is reframing the ordinary to make it extraordinary.

Currently, I have two main bodies of work. One is large-scale vessels that explore pottery on a more architectural scale. In this work I use direct, spontaneous application of graphic mark--making to complement my forms, drawing inspiration from sources such as Japanese Oribe ceramics, Sumi ink paintings, folk art, and children’s illustrations and art.

My other body of work is based around functional pottery and ranges from wheel thrown porcelain to stoneware. As a maker of utilitarian objects I see my role more as a designer than an artist. The objects I make must take the constraints of their intended use into consideration and address these constraints in a manner that yields a surprising object that works surprisingly well. While my intent is for this pottery to fit into a contemporary context, I gain a great deal of inspiration from historical traditions, which include Japanese tea wares, Chinese porcelains, Korean peasant wares, and European tablewares.