Statement
I hand-build many clay parts that I assemble into organic structures. Stretching, squatting, retracting, and moseying about, these irregular patterns exist as gestures, compounded physical behaviors that blend what is external with the self. The unglazed forms emphasize a sense of bareness, a raw portrayal of line, volume, texture, and balance that become animated in the display. These somatic sculptures converse amongst themselves, generating a language shaped by spatial relationships, motioning the viewer into an empathic engagement. Observing the world informs my making, through which I gain a greater understanding of the complexity that I see, experience, and consider as I navigate the everyday.
Part of the significance of my work draws upon how objects influence beliefs and knowledge. In the literal sense, beliefs are imperfect models for navigating a complex, unknowable reality grounded in facts and subjective experiences. Beliefs are psychological constructs connecting us to others, yet tools that can yield artificial constraints, blinding us from valid possibilities. Knowledge, in this sense, follows a sort of fragmented scaffold that speaks to the boundaries of subjectivity and perspective. However, up against scientific knowledge, our beliefs can deform, expand, condense in ways that affect our sense of reality.