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artist statement
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There are many ways to approach art making with clay. For me the choices are very conscious and tested. I follow various schools and cultural traditions in making vessels and works for the wall.
As a young artist in Los Angeles I followed the work of Gertrud and Otto Natzler, and L.A. clay artists associated with Chouinard Art School, Adrian Saxe, Ralph Bacerra and Elsa Rady. Their well executed and highly personal vessels gave me license to go beyond the strict unspoken rules of pottery making at the time. I embraced industrial methods of making such as slip casting, jiggering and plaster turning taught by Dr. Robert Ramsey at California State University Long Beach.
The study of early 20th century design,ie Wiener Werkstaette, and the architecture and design of international modernists like Le Corbusier, Neutra, and Joseph Hoffman contributed to my modernist attitude about form. I have always been interested in a pared down aesthetic and admire Sol Le Witt and Agnes Martin for their freedom within restraint and continue to refer to 19th century Japanese design for direction in the abstraction of natural forms.
The sculptural vessels I make are metaphorical in their exploration of containment, and celebrate form, setting aside the constraints of utility. When making tableware, I consider design and the rigors of daily use. The spirit of my hand in these pieces is modest, to harmonize with and act as a support to the prepared ingredients. I have taken inspiration from early 20th century European and American studio artists and designers, including HT Baumann, Lucie Rie, Timo Saraponeva, Russel Wright, and many anonymous artists who chose to embrace a pared down, restrained, and graceful aesthetic to enhance the routine of daily life in an artful way.
Recently my work has ventured off the table and onto the wall. I have been looking to Abstract Expressiont painters Rothko, Hoffman and Gottlieb for surface treatments which has redirected my focus from form to surface. I have been concentrating on monoprints and paintings on flat clay tablets and dimensional wall square installations. Using abstraction of natural forms and the human figure, alienation and spontaneous order are the themes that drive these compositions.
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