Dancing Coral, 2020
Natural materials
Contemporary designs
Waiting for Grendel (2020)
Teapot 10.3” high x 14.5” wide x 6” deep
Cups 3.5” h x 3.5 ” diameter
Topknot (2020)
21” high, 6.25” diameter
Abalone 1 (2021)
8” high x 7” x 6”
Artist Statement
My art is founded on a deep respect for the materials I use. A pine tree can be a hundred feet tall, rocks are millions of years old. All of them have stories: how they were formed, how they got their color and shape; I represent the materials as well as I can by experimenting to create a shape or until the materials suggest something else.
I prepare the pine needles and slice stones, using them to form my vessels with both traditional and invented coiling techniques. I push the boundaries of traditional coiling techniques by turning sharp corners, layering, stacking, splitting the coils, by attaching and suspending objects like deer antlers, fossil ammonites, coral branches and abalone shells. My process is a combinations of lapidary and sculptural work, art and engineering; what interests me most is finding a way to construct what I have imagined.
