Artist Statement
Uncentered Balance
I want to give my ceramics work, essentially inanimate objects, a sense of movement, as though there’s energy within the form that enables it to grow organically.
Asymmetry helps give that sense of movement and narrow bases enable the viewer’s eye to flow upward. The resulting work, mostly vessels, conveys tension between that sense of movement and balance, a sense of balance and actual balance. This is a challenge I continually grapple with.
Coiling
I hand-build the objects using the process of coiling. It’s a method that goes back thousands of years and is used today in traditional societies throughout the world, and is being used increasingly by contemporary ceramicists. Coiling enables me to create forms as sculptural objects. With coiling, you build up a form by adding coils of clay to the emerging walls of the form you are creating. The challenge is that the wall you are constructing has to be dry enough to hold the weight of the next coil and moist enough to join the coil to the emerging wall. If the walls are not dry enough to hold the weight of the coil the wall flops over. Timing is critical.
The slow process of coiling enables me to look hard at the emerging form and adjust my idea based on how the form is coming together and where the clay wants me to go. On the resulting work, I create simple glaze surface coverings so that they don’t detract from the form and also smoke fire un-glazed work for the unique surfaces it offers.
Smoke firing
Much of the work is smoke fired in self-made kilns. There are many forms of smoke firing used by traditional societies throughout the world, and embraced by many contemporary ceramicists. For kilns I use a galvanized oil drum or self-made simple brick enclosures. Sawdust is placed on the bottom of the can or brick enclosure, and then the ceramic objects are embedded in successive layers of sawdust. Fast burning combustible materials like newspaper and small pieces of wood are placed on top of the sawdust, lit, let burn for a while, and when I’m sure that the sawdust is burning, I cover the can or brick enclosure with a metal lid.
With the cover on, the fire becomes oxygen starved and starts to smoke. The carbon in the smoke is absorbed by the ceramics, creating the surface markings it’s known for. It usually needs to burn overnight. After exercising such control over each aspect of the process, I let go of control and let the fire and air do the work. In the morning I open the kiln with bated breath, and the finished pots are lying in ash on the bottom. The results are always a surprise—mostly good. The pieces are cleaned with water, and then polished with bee’s wax, which brings out the richness of the surface. This process creates a satiny surface that many viewers want to hold in their hands.