My connection to process is steeped in the outdoors. The rhythm of movement through the mountains has always had a way of wearing away the rough edges, smoothing, and rounding. My process much like the erosion of the elements navigates the rougher edges and inspires me to build with less tension. Over time I have learned to soften my relationship with clay. I use minimal tools to have as much direct contact with the wet material as possible. Utilizing hand-made molds, soft malleable slabs I piece together layers of forms.

In the work, I’ve been exploring the contrasting qualities and connotations of local small-batch clay versus industrially mined materials for the ceramic industry. Within my process, this is visible through incorporating and blending material with a gradient/ombre’ of the local material (history of a specific place) with industrial mined porcelains from the ceramic industry. The qualities of color that I put into my work, the hues and tones are meant to transport the viewer as I see this as a source of unending vitality in my own experience. 

I’m interested in the raw tonal qualities of clay. The digging and grinding, processing of making clay fascinate me. The mechanisms of liquidization, of the material. If these principles are applied to the human-driven process of clay making. There are so many variables, colors, and inherent properties possible at this stage.  I’m continually enamored when making clay with the luscious layers of liquid material that are poured out onto a plaster slab to dry. One ambition in my process is to capture the ephemerality of wet clay into a vitrified image of layers in time.