I’ve had an interest in ceramics for as long as I can recall. As a kid, I remember watching my uncle at night raise and lower the lid of his raku kiln, observing the fiery oranges and reds with wonder and fascination. He was a fantastic potter and I loved seeing his manifestations, pouring over the smallest details, but I never considered taking it up myself until my senior year of high school when I enrolled in a semester course on ceramics. Until then, I firmly believed that I possessed no quantifiable vestige of artistry for my drawings remained as stick figures well past adolescence. But when I got on the potter’s wheel, that all changed for me. I quickly realized that this was a craft I belonged to and that in some way would remain a part of my life forever…
I finally realized the dream of building my own studio back in 2017 when I converted my garage into the haphazard workshop that it is today. The first year and a half were full of promise and disappointment, but slowly, I started seeing results that encouraged me to keep pushing forward. Today, I am more excited than ever–the promise overshadowing the disappointments.
My pottery is heavily influenced by the old potters of the past. I find kinship with the Japanese philosophy of wabi sabi. I love the rustic functional forms of early frontier pottery—the old water and whiskey jugs and casserole crocks. My favorite glazes are ones that show the lines of my trimming tool and enhance the edges around my pieces, known as breaking glazes. I love the interface of function and fashion, where something beautiful is a daily tool and becomes a part of your routine and ritual.
I invite you to come and take a look at what I’ve been up to and maybe, just maybe you will find something that speaks to you. Take well.