Tell us about the work(s) you have in this exhibition.
The Traveler
13″ x 20″ x 8 1/2″
Stoneware Clay
$1800
This piece is entitled “The Traveler” and is an outward interpretation of how our own selves can shift and change through travel and exposure to cultures and peoples different from our own.
What draws you to your chosen medium, what do you love about it?
I hand build my ceramic sculpture from stoneware clay, and use engobes, underglazes, stains, and glazes for my surfaces, which I build up over the course of 3-4 firings. I was drawn to clay at an early age, and my love for it has not lessened through the years. It is a visceral experience to move the clay; I literally have my hands in the stuff of which the earth is made. I do not think my sculpture would hold the same meaning and resonance if it was made from another material.
What inspires you to make art?
My work centers around the human search for authenticity, and belonging. The question of modern identity, or where we are truly at home when much of our ancestral culture may have dissolved, been actively destroyed, or is one in which we do not wish to be a part. The same holds true for the environment, and the modern problem of being disconnected from the land, as well as wild creatures, which can create a kind of ‘hole’ in our identity. My work reflects my personal experiences around these issues.
