I am an artist and educator whose focus is to encourage others to express themselves fully through any form of art that feels comfortable to them. My personal work consists of functional forms meant to be used daily, with a focus on the form for the everyday consumer, but a surface filled with art that represents a vague landscape or part of a memory that is meaningful to me.
It’s important to me that my work be used and interacted with by people. I chose pottery over painting in my BFA study for one reason: I didn’t know how to do it. BUT, one of the reasons I stuck with it was because of the ability to have a message, piece of art, and useful object all in one. Everybody eats and drinks, we all need cups and bowls. We should all be enjoying every meal off of a beautiful piece of handmade art, and supporting small businesses along the way.
As a child, I didn’t have the availability to art outside of school that I wish I could have had. I struggled throughout school to fit in, find my place, and fully express myself. I was inspired by one incredible art teacher in high school who spent the extra time to explain things to me in a way I understood and could do, and I went to school to become an art teacher. I proceeded to teach high school art for four years, before stepping back due to personal reasons.
I would like to create work, make change, and strand up for what I believe in. It is a very tough time in our community right now, especially as a teacher. I chose to fight from the outside, letting my voice be heard without the repercussion.
It’s important to me that my work be used and interacted with by people. I chose pottery over painting in my BFA study for one reason: I didn’t know how to do it. BUT, one of the reasons I stuck with it was because of the ability to have a message, piece of art, and useful object all in one. Everybody eats and drinks, we all need cups and bowls. We should all be enjoying every meal off of a beautiful piece of handmade art, and supporting small businesses along the way.
As a child, I didn’t have the availability to art outside of school that I wish I could have had. I struggled throughout school to fit in, find my place, and fully express myself. I was inspired by one incredible art teacher in high school who spent the extra time to explain things to me in a way I understood and could do, and I went to school to become an art teacher. I proceeded to teach high school art for four years, before stepping back due to personal reasons.
I would like to create work, make change, and strand up for what I believe in. It is a very tough time in our community right now, especially as a teacher. I chose to fight from the outside, letting my voice be heard without the repercussion.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I represent memories through abstract landscapes which blanket the mostly functional vessels in my work. The memories I kept as a child are extremely vague, merely just a representation of an event, at best. My clearest and most sentimental memories with my family are of when we would go camping, regardless of the setting it took place in. The uncertainty of these memories, or why my brain chooses to remember them, is reflected in the abstraction of the landscapes on my ceramics. Wood-firing became incorporated with my work — for it creates a special kind of uncertainty. The river of flame that flows through the kiln is undiscovered prior to the firing, it is unknown what will come of it. Trusting the unknown becomes a necessity in this process, which is something I am oddly comfortable with.
As my self awareness grows, so goes my work. I use my art as a platform to talk about the most wonderful and terrible things happening in the world, to whatever sense of abstraction needed. I have always used art as my outlet, and as I begin to understand and remember my past, I am in constant need of emotional release. I talk about problems I am facing, those of my friends and family, and those of the rest of the world!
As my self awareness grows, so goes my work. I use my art as a platform to talk about the most wonderful and terrible things happening in the world, to whatever sense of abstraction needed. I have always used art as my outlet, and as I begin to understand and remember my past, I am in constant need of emotional release. I talk about problems I am facing, those of my friends and family, and those of the rest of the world!