VOTED 2011 STATE OF DELAWARE Howard Pyle Art Educator of the Year
Artist Statement
During the 80's and 90's, I was working full-time in my studio, with work displayed in top galleries and retail shows around the country. I participated in both the ACC and Rosen shows which led to my work being featured in numerous books and magazines including the Australian Craft Arts magazine in 1992.
When my oldest son began kindergarten, I dropped back to part-time in my studio and started teaching art in private elementary schools. In 2001 I returned to school and earned a Master's degree in Elementary Education. Now, as I enter my 50’s, I continue to teach art, but am also back in my studio creating one of a kind and limited edition bowls, boxes, platters, and teapots.
Currently my work has become inspired by organic lines and forms. Leaf shapes, vines and scrolls inspire handles, feet and trim used to decorate my boxes, bowls, and plates. Surfaces allude to underwater landscapes or atmospheric dreamscapes. Many of these pieces closely follow the drawing and painting techniques I have done for years, but as the work progresses, I find myself carving and texturing, creating a more tactile surface. Details are more important as the designs include trim and accents created with the buttons I collected as a child from my mom’s sewing room. When completed, many of these forms seem reminiscent of the cakes I decorated as a teen living in New Orleans. I even incorporate the colors of Mardi Gras, purple, green and gold, in some of my newest work.
Although I choose forms that are functional, I see my work as sculptural, creating objects that acquire a presence, challenging the traditional ideas of function. For many of my pieces their “function” simply becomes the process of engaging the viewer in a delightful visual dance of line, color, pattern and form.
PROCESS: All work is whiteware clay, thrown, cast, carved and handbuilt. Pieces are painted with underglazes, accented with pencil and fired to <04. Decorative and sculptural vessels are painted with underglazes and accented with color pencil, chalks, and graphic press type additions. Functional work is glazed while others are left unglazed with a water-based sealant protecting the painted surface.
