Clay is very much a living substance in its own right, with a lifespan that starts with a soft, infant-like fragility. When exposed to the aired environment, it breaths, relieving moisture and hardening over the passage of time. As the clay coagulates, it becomes subject to touch and pressure in different ways, no longer as versatile or malleable as its wet, supple counterpart. Finally the clay dries completely reaching the end of its lifespan where no more changes or additions can be made. The correlations that exist between this lifecycle and that of the human condition are what I am most interested in.

It is in this way that liveliness is embedded into the clay, opening up a plethora of possible messages that can be communicated quite directly through the material itself. When understood as a medium with corporeal traits that parallel our own, natural textures and forms gain immense metaphorical power. My goal as the manipulator of the medium is not to construct, but rather cultivate this symbolism by addressing the material in its most vulnerable state, allowing clay to bend and shape spontaneously, according to its own characteristics and natural tendencies.

As a result, cracks, breaks, folds, stretch marks and scrapes develop. These marks are celebrated rather than seen as procedural flaws, providing depth to surface and accentuating the structural tensions existing in each object.

Dealing with the vessel is how I choose to draw loose correlations to human anatomy. Basic geometric shapes are assembled and persuaded to bend and tear under the opposing force of gravity. The results are forms that speak to physical volumes and tensions that in some way parallel those existing within that of human architecture, a juxtaposition that carries over into the metaphysical.

What’s left are objects that opt for discovery over fruition, and a process that embodies an ongoing investigation in which the voice of the clay is held in equal regard to that of the artist.