Artist Statement
I love making functional pottery. I want to share my work and create daily rituals among my collectors and admirers. I am constantly fulfilled every day that I can turn a ball of clay into something that someone can treasure. As I work at my wheel, I imagine my pots being used at a fancy dinner party with cake stands and flower vases decorating the table; or perhaps a favorite mug being filled with hot, steaming coffee or warm tea. My inspiration comes from nature, specifically flowers and the way their petals unfold and the infinite patterns they make. I always have a camera with me in case I see an interesting flower or beautiful bird. I look at antique and historical pottery, glassware and other current potters’ work to inspire and energize my own work. I am very lucky to be able to wake up every morning and do what I love to do. I have always been a maker and I will always be one.
Process
I use porcelain clay that is malleable and soft; it responds to the lightest of touch and can be altered until dried, then fired to create a hard permanent object. My forms are wheel thrown, trimmed, and manipulated. I apply a scalloped ruffle around each piece which creates an area for glaze to collect, resulting in variation from matte to glossy and breaking up surface. With a surgical knife, between each scallop, I draw vertical lines down the piece. The glaze breaks around these lines usually resulting in a lovely separation breaking up the surface. My glaze pallet consists of blues, greens, oranges and browns which I spray on in multiple layers and fire in a gas kiln to cone ten in an oxidized atmosphere.
Bio
When I was little, I would play in the creek beds behind our house in Rockwall, Texas, fishing for crawdads and making mud sculptures. I have always loved making things, no matter what the material. Growing up, I knew I wanted to be an artist so I would practice drawing. I took drawing and painting classes during high school and community college; but it wasn’t until I transferred to the University of North Texas in 2002 that I took my first ceramics class. It did not take long before I fell in love with the process, the environment, and clay. I had only made a few hand-built sculptures before I declared myself a ceramics major and in 2005, I graduated with a BFA.
In 2011, I completed a MFA in Ceramics at UNT. I was a resident artist at Center Street Clay in Sandwich, Illinois one summer during my graduate studies, where I worked with Steven Hill, who is a renowned artist known for his spraying techniques; which I’ve adopted and incorporated in to my glazing process.
In August 2011, I moved to Riverside, California. I set up a studio in the garage where I continued to make work and show nationally. In May 2012, I was invited to Art of the Pot in Austin, Texas for their 9th Annual Mother’s Day Studio Tour and Sale. I have taught classes at the American Museum of Ceramic Art, in Pomona, CA as well as, Ceramic Services in Ontario, CA.
During the summer of 2014, we relocated to Butte, Montana and as of July 2016 we moved again two hours north to Great Falls, Montana and bought a home with some land just outside the city, in the small town of Ulm. My husband teaches at the University of Providence in Great Falls and I work in my home studio and care for our young son. Since living in Montana, I have completed multiple short-term residencies at both the Archie Bray Foundation, as well as Red Lodge Clay Center. I teach community classes at the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art and I continue to pursue teaching workshops, showing nationally, and networking with local Montana Clay artists.