Artist Statement
Living in Chicago, I can feel removed from the natural environment. When people speak of euphoric encounters of spiritual significance in their environment, they often mean out in solitude away from civilization. I have been making vessels and wall panels that reach toward moments of divine beauty and contemplation by using what I see and experience in the world around me. A broken cup, a discarded Kleenex, a piece of chewing gum stuck on the sidewalk – these things are the detritus of my world and I try to see both beauty and the divine in them. By holding these ideas in something vulgar, I can reframe my own experiences – not discarded as waste, but rather as meaningful moment to reflect back on how beauty can be found in all things.
Lately I have been influenced by the French ceramicist Bernard Palissy. Palissy was an artist living the mid 16th century and made life casts of his environment and applied them onto decorative vessels. He did this not out of technical prowess, but to better understand the world around him. As a protestant, he was unconvinced by Catholic ideas of creationism and was certain there was more to the world around him than what was visible. Palissy felt through a sensual examination of nature, it could bring one closer to the divine.