I like to work in porcelain because of its reference to historical ceramics, but also because of its endless possibilities. I think clay has an equal role in my creative process contributing ideas and directions that no other material could provide. The idealized portrayal of animals in cartoons, children’s movies, nature journals and heroic animal stories are part of my inspiration as well as taxidermy animals and their associations with power, status, or sophistication. The themes of the work vary in each piece but overall express a fascination with the ornate as an extreme mode of human expression and our complex relationship with animals that becomes part of this expression. The humor in the work is a result of mixing these ideas and having fun in the studio.
The landscape work, for me, is both exploratory and meditative. The drive to and from home (around 20 minutes) is just long enough to reflect on this mid-western landscape: the sprawl, the agriculture, the development, the idea of “neighborhood” and how we shape/sculpt, protect and interact with those pieces of land which we call home. This work is a kind of reflection of that thought process through the car window.
The construction process involves taking quick snapshots that then get translated into various colors of porcelain slip. This colored liquid slip is poured onto plaster to get hard, cut, stacked and then in some cases rolled out to produce a panoramic image.