Functional

Art that is meant to be used. These works include bowls, plates, mugs, and teapots. These works are normally created in a series and are produced specifically to sell. Pictured here is a sample of my past work.

Fine Art

Art that has deeper meaning and is meant for presentation in galleries

Continually Broken

This piece was done as an interpritation of allen lucier's "I'm Sitting In A Room" in which he records himself saying a phrase into a recorder, playing it back, and recording the recording. He does this dozens of times until the final recording is unrecognizable.
Translating that into ceramics I threw a porcelain vase. I then dropped the vase on concrete, and put the pieces back together using gold epoxy reminiscent of Kintsugi. I repeated this process, noting how the epoxy held the piece together better than the previous drops, and how some pieces were unable to be fitted back into place.

For me this represents how through life the challenges we face have the potential to make us stronger, but at the same time whenever we are hurt, we lose a small piece of ourselves.

The physical piece is meant to be displayed in accompaniment with a video showing the vase breaking each time it is dropped.

Letting Go

Sometimes the recovery process involves letting go of emotions and thoughts that build up over time. Where we have bad experiences and hold grudges against people, being able to release those negatives allow us to start to build better positive experiences.

These black clay forms are filled with yellow bees wax, and then shattered. The wax holds the broken pieces in place, and when lit, melts away. This releases the broken shards and allows them to fall to the plate below.

Shattered

When unexpected tragedies hit it is often hard to find the silver lining. When destruction wreaks havoc on life the pieces that are left are sometimes hard to be seen with value. But when something is broken, when we go through a trauma, one of the things that remains and that we gain is empathy.

These tiles were originally meant to be turned into a bench. The kiln fired too quickly and the moisture remaining in the clay turned to steam, and shattered the tiles. While unloading the catastrophe I noticed many of the corner pieces were still in tact. I had drilled out the hols prior to firing for the purposes of mounting the tiles. I arranged the tiles in 3x3 grids, using my best judgement to match the corners to their original tile. Using brass screws I attached the corners to a backer board, and framed them using golden wood slats.

Scars

The physical representation of trauma on the human body can be easily identifiable by scar tissue. These deviations in our complexion are reminders of the pain we have endured. These physical representations often come with mental baggage as well. Our bodies may heal over time, as will our minds, but evidence of the past still remains. It does not decrease our value as people, but gives us a history which we have lived through. Scaring is the most obvious sign of past hardships. And continuing to live past that is proof that our traumas do not stop us in life.

This series is composed of three distinct parts. The first is a photo portrait taken of the individual, showing them from a distance, and then showing their scars up close. Next the photos are transferred over to porcelain tablets and the scarred areas are highlighted using gold luster. Finally an account from the subject on what caused the scarring is given.