My love affair with ceramics began forty years ago as an Oceanography student. I enrolled in ceramics as a required art class and was immediately seduced by wheel throwing and the internal focus it demanded. I remain enamored with the process of constructing, decorating, and transforming materials through heat. I continue to be excited by the prospects of a freshly fired kiln.
The forms I choose are minimal and often secondary to the surface. Currently the brush is the most important instrument in my toolbox. With the layering of glaze and repeated firings the forms become “fired paintings”. I also utilize fused glass in pursuit of these abstract images.
The opaque transparency of the material is important for its lightness and lack of visual density. In both ceramic and glass the textured surface contradicts the likable wetness of glaze. The bright color is for happiness on a gray Portland day.
