Mountains,Plateaus, Parks, and Plains

Materials:clay casting slip, terra sigillata, flocked foam rocks, wood skewer, squeeze toy, rubber kitchen sponge
Materials:clay casting slip, terra sigillata, wood clay tools, wooden dome lid, acrylic paint, red rubber bands, epoxy
Materials:clay casting slip, terra sigillata, green foam pad, acrylic paint, plastic kitchen sieve tool, screw, washer, epoxy
Materials:Slip cast clay, terra sigillata, flocked foam rocks, rubber tire tube, acrylic paint, epoxy
Materials:clay casting slip, terra sigillata, glass frit particles, bowl brushes, metal wire, acrylic paint, rubber band, epoxy
Materials:clay casting slip, terra sigillata, metal mammogram pins, epoxy 

Show Statement

I have observed in my everyday life and travels, these places. I recast objects but don't make identical twins. I use slip cast clay and and plaster molds, machine processes and old school hands. I'm fascinated with objects that let my mind travel.

On the forms I cast from clay, I leave mold seams, a slightly raised visible line, purposefully visible to mark the memory of human hands at work in the physical environment.

While my work typically references the industrialization of the landscape, I am also inspired by naturally occurring forms called Scholar's Rocks. Theses natural forms, usually rocks, were found in remote places in China during the Tang and Song Dynasties. They were collected by all classes of people and "seen as to imagine all places under heaven, such as the world in miniature, a mountain, a cloud, or even a moonscape". They were passed on to scholars to stimulate philosophical and religious thinking in the artist's poetry, writing, and painting. The rocks were appreciated for their abstract qualities and textured surfaces and were displayed prominently indoors and outdoors in their homes and gardens.

When viewing my abstractions of rocks and objects, I want people to contemplate human nature. My sculptures release me from the distraction and commotion of life. They are a ritual for me in their making and made to gift the mind with joy.

Tang Dynasty, China (618 - 907 CE)
Song Dynasty, China (960-1127 CE)