Andre Gide says, "Pay attention only to the form; emotion will come spontaneously to inhabit it. A perfect dwelling always finds an inhabitant."
Emotion fills me when I see perfect forms in nature, from the cracked conch shell on the beach revealing its perfect spiral, to the milkweed pod burst in the field, its brilliant airborne seeds streaming into the sunlight. The ordered symmetry and asymmetry of nature's forms reveal the growth of life, the movement of life.
Living on Martha's Vineyard, island time, especially in the winter, seems to conform to nature's cycles. As a potter, I strive to make my work reflect the balance of life around me. It is important that the patterns I see around me are integrated into my forms.
I use a translucent porcelain body because it has a beautiful surface, and it conveys the qualities of light and shadow that I wish to express. After throwing my vessel on the potter's wheel, I alter the form to set up a movement of soft shadow. When the porcelain is leather hard, I carve patterns to add energy and counterpoint. I fire my work to cone 10, where the porcelain becomes non-porous and translucent, and one of the hardest surfaces known to man.
Some of the finished pieces hold elusive glimpses of the balance between the convex and the concave, and light absorbed and reflected. In further exploration, I marry the fine porcelain with the ancient art of gilding. The 23 carat gold leaf illumines the interior of the vessel, to reveal new curves and patterns.
Education
1978, B.F.A. with honors, Michigan State University,
studied under Louis Raynor
1980, Graduate study, Florida Atlantic University,
studied under John McCoy
Select Exhibitions
2008, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Rococo Exhibit New York, NY
2007-2008, Smithsonian Craft Show, Washington DC
2009, Fragiles: Porcelain, Glass & Ceramics exhibition, Kuwait
2011, Inhabited Porcelain exhibition, Santa Fe Clay, NM
2011, Not So Still Life exhibition, Racine Art Museum, WI
2011, Alchemy: From Dust to Form exhibition, Harn Museum, University of Florida, FL
2011, Solo Exhibition, Sherrie Gallerie, Columbus, OH
2006-2011, Palm Beach Fine Craft Show, West Palm Beach, FL
2006-2011, Washington Craft Show, Washington DC
2006-2009, 2011 Westchester Fine Craft Show, White Plains, NY
2006-2008, 2010-2011 Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. Philadelphia, PA
2006-2007, 2011 Cherry Creek Art Festival, Denver CO
2005, 2007-2011, American Craft Exposition, Evanston, IL
2004-2011, American Craft Council Show, Baltimore, MD
2010-2011, American Craft Council Show, Atlanta, GA
2011, American Craft Council Show, St. Paul, MN
2007-2011, Old Town Art Festival, Chicago, IL
2001, 2008-2010 Craft Forms, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA
2008-2010, Long's Park Art Festival, Lancaster, PA
2009-2010, St. Louis Art Festival, St. Louis, MO
2008-2009, Riverspan Sculpture Exhibition, Cincinnati, OH
2005, 2007-2008, Crafts Boston, Boston, MA
2007, Fuller Craft Museum, Member Exhibition, Brockton, MA
2006, Des Moines Art Festival, Des Moines, IA
2006-2007, 2011 Lakefront Festival of Arts, Milwaukee, IL
2006, Crafts National 2006, Lancaster Museum, Lancaster, PA
2005, Crafts at the Castle, Boston, MA
2004, Particles and Passion, the Art of Clay, Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD
2004, Arts Festival at Rockefeller Center, NYC, New York
2003-2004, Boca Raton Museum Art Festival, Boca Raton, FL
2001-2004, Winter Park Arts Festival, Winter Park, FL
1993-2004, Coconut Grove Art Festival, Miami, FL
1990-1995, 2001-2002, Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, Tampa, FL
1992-1995, Disney's Festival of the Masters, Orlando, FL Teaching Experience
2008-2010, Select Workshops
1995-2003, Instructor, Featherstone Meetinghouse, Oak Bluffs, MA
1993-2004, Participating Artist, Coconut Grove Visiting Artists Program, Miami, FL
1998-2002, Artist in Residence, Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School
1995-1999, Instructor, Chilmark Pottery, Chilmark, MA
Professional Affiliations
American Crafts Council
Featherstone Meetinghouse of the Arts
National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts
Massachusetts Cultural Council, 2007 Finalist
Potter's Council
Artist's
Interview LaFontsee Gallery - November, 2005
1. What was your
first memorable experience with art?
My first memory at all was of
decorating a pine cone when I was two. But now I think I was excited, not by the
glitter, but by really seeing the pine cone as art. What can be more beautiful
that a pine cone?
2. Can you explain when you first knew you
wanted to be an artist? Who/what turned you on to art?
I never
wanted to be an artist. I just wanted to play with clay, draw, build blocks,
like all children do. My grandmother taught me the rudiments of watercolor when
I was a little older. She painted for many years and exhibited in some shows.
She also taught me Ikebana - the art of Japanese flower arranging.
3. Is there any single piece of art that had an impact
on you as a child? An adolescent? An adult?
I remember as a child
being blown away by a large Calder mobile, hanging - I don't remember where.
That something so massive as those large slices of metal could be balanced so
perfectly as to gracefully wander though the air creating colorful, flowing arcs
as they did so, was something I could not forget. I amused myself on many
occasions after that, twisting pieces of cut up coat hangers into curly cues and
balancing them horizontally with kite string.
4.
What artists influenced you the most? Current influences?
Well,
I've always loved Georgia O'Keefe - the forms she painted, as well as her
attitude. In clay, I learned by watching better potters throw, trim, and glaze.
Louis Raynor, one of my professors at Michigan State University, said that your
most important tool as a potter was the hammer, and I have always thought that
to be good advice. I learned to throw bottles by watching the disciplined
precision of a potter from Iraq. I was further influenced by the superb teaching
of John McCoy, at Florida Atlantic University, who taught me the nuances of
throwing porcelain. More currently, I have been influenced by the concept of
fractals, first introduced to me in a book called "Fractals - The Patterns of
Chaos. Discovering a New Aesthetic of Art, Science, and Nature", by John
Briggs.
5. What do you like most about the medium
and surface you use?
I like the smoothness and starkness of
porcelain; it's like bleached bones or white beach rocks. I wish to find the
structure of the vessel, the skeleton of the vessel, and I wish the surface
design to be the light and shadows, created by the structure. Porcelain
possesses translucency, as well a quality of reflecting light without being
shiny. Because I confine myself to the thrown form, I am mostly working within a
sphere. But there seem to be infinite possibilities within that parameter.
6. What information/ideas are behind your current body
of work?
Perhaps it is still about creating movement and balance in
a porcelain vessel form. The clay is so plastic, alive, under your fingers when
you throw it on the wheel, the wet clay so giving when you alter it, and it
becomes molten and soft in the white-hot belly of the kiln. But after it cools
it is hard - one of the hardest substances know to man, so it is all too easy
for it to lose its motion.
7. What do you want people to respond
to in your work?
I don't know. I guess I think that that is their
responsibility.
8. Do you have predetermined ideas of what your
finished work will be like, or do the ideas emerge in process?
My
work is very process oriented, in that I try to throw a pure form, then add
volume by altering it while the form is still wet, and then carving lines to add
movement to the volume of the form. I have a general idea of the end piece I am
trying to attain, but I can only attain it by allowing each stage of the process
to be influenced as it goes along.
9. How would you describe you
work to a non - sighted person?
Not in words - I am not gifted that
way. But I have laid many a piece into the hands of a non-sighted person. They
always understand the work better than most, seeing the curve and line, the edge
and volume, with their touch.
10. Do you have a favorite
saying?
Yes. Andre Gide said, "Pay attention to the form only.
Emotion will come spontaneously. A perfect dwelling always finds and
inhabitant." So, I try to create perfect dwellings.
11. What are
your goals for your work in the next few years?
I imagine I will
keep trying to push the limits of the porcelain. Carve more away. Discover new
patterns. I have been throwing some larger vessels out of stoneware. I want to
continue my exploration of the interaction of scales, from miniature to floor
vases. Certainly the possibilities are endless.
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