Artist Statement
I am interested in the contrast between places such as parks and natural areas and modern ways of building and living. We have cultural ideas of beauty and the sense of the untouched associated with these places. Outdoor landscapes seem to be in their natural state, but are actually created, planned, built, and maintained as part of our culture. We think of nature as untouched and wild, and not something controlled or created by humans.
In my work I combine natural materials such as granite, clay, and sand mixed with collected refuse such as glass, metal, and waste glaze. These elements are changed through melting, flowing, and fusing together in the firing process to a different chemical state much like the earth does over millennia, and visually represent land and the ocean floor. I question the idea of culturally valuable versus personally valuable natural space. The contrast between the natural and man-made, and the seen and the unseen are determining factors. The effect of these elements on our lives and psyche are important considerations.
Natural places can have positive effects on our well being, many of which we may not yet understand. The relationship we have both culturally and individually, the contrast between wildness and wilderness, and the effect this relationship has on daily living is the focus of my work.