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Functional Statement

 

Many things influence my functional work including the long history of ceramic traditions in different cultures, but I create with the contemporary table in mind.  Striving to blend the old with the new, I look to the quiet restraint of Japanese folk pottery, designers from the Arts and Crafts Movement, Modernism periods and others, and work to develop new pieces in my own creative aesthetic.  Form is paramount, with architecture playing a role in the underlying structure.  While attempting to use embellishment with subtle moderation, I apply carved, impressed, or raised textures and imagery to merge the surface with the form, looking to textiles and my garden as resources.  I throw on the wheel, alter, handbuild, and use simple drape or press molds, sometimes all in one piece. I work slowly in a series and the progression is gradual.  I strive to somehow vary each piece, and by creating different combinations my aim is the work continues to evolve while also recording my observations of where I am in time.  My pots are one way I define myself, with the ultimate goal of connecting with other people through sophisticated functional objects.  They are about touch and use, and the everyday life of the home and kitchen.  They are also about elevating the mundane to the unexpected, and the potential to enrich and awaken the routines and rhythms of our domestic environment bringing art, beauty, and intelligence to our daily private lives.