Artist Statement

 

Art has always been part of my life…from dress designing as a child, to photography, jewelry making, painting, encaustic, collage, and ceramics. Recently my primary focus has been on ceramics and collage. Collage is about paper and glue, and pottery is about dust and moisture; things that do not seem to go together, just as oil and water don’t mix.  But for me, working back and forth between the two media expands my creative process and helps me develop unique ideas and designs. The technique of composing my collages using cut paper, photos, and wallpaper and assembling them in unlikely or unexpected juxtapositions feels similar to ornamenting my ceramics with embellishments such as zippers, buttons, flowers, vegetables, leaves, frogs, insects, and tree bark that I “cut out” of clay.  My goal is to create incongruous combinations using either medium….paper or clay and explore the qualities shared between ceramics and two-dimensional works on paper. I have not yet gone to the extreme of shattering my ceramic pieces and assembling them together like a collage….but that technique may be in my future!  In all cases, my insatiable curiosity, which I, fortunately, inherited from my 100-year-old mother, has taken my art down many fascinating avenues.  I love sharing my discoveries.