My slab-built structures reflect dwellings, landforms, wind, and the sea. I work in low-fire clay with an emphasis on strong colors and loose, spontaneous surface textures. Narrative is central to all my work; The house form brims with symbolism and meaning – both comic and dark.
Weather is an inescapable feature of everyday life near the sea. It is often dramatic and rapidly changing. Weather Watching examines the intersection between our dwelling and the environment it exists within. I try to dissolve the boundaries between the two and emphasize the juxtaposition between the straight lines of buildings against the organic shapes of the landscape. In some pieces, the house is a framework for the narrative in this body of work; But always the real story is how our dwellings shrink against the onslaught of wind, rain, and waves, or are dwarfed by deep forests, high cliffs, and big
views.
There is a hidden fragility to what otherwise might seem like a solid and stable existence – either the fragility of the human relationships inside the home, the menacing weather outside, or the fault lines, unstable soil, and eroding cliffs on which the house sits. My surface designs hint at that instability with deep fissures cut through the clay surface, houses placed precariously near the landscape’s edge or waves and wind overtaking the dwelling.