Clay has been a material I’ve gravitated toward for years due to its transformative properties and inherent fragility. There’s something deeply satisfying about working with clay's tactile, responsive nature. I am drawn to its immediacy, allowing me to connect with my work through an intuitive process that feels organic and fluid.
I primarily use coiling and pinching techniques to build my pieces, often allowing the marks of my hands and fingers to remain visible, creating a direct, tangible imprint of the process. These handprints become a moment frozen in time, captured in the final piece once the clay is fired. This emphasis on the marks of my hands speaks to my ongoing exploration of memory, place, and the passage of time.
I tend to work on multiple pieces simultaneously, rotating through them as the clay stiffens, which gives me space to explore different forms and ideas in parallel. Terra cotta clay is my medium of choice, favored for its rich, earthy red color and its versatility in creating varied surface textures. Once the pieces are leather-hard, I carefully load them into the kiln, completing the drying process before firing them at a bisque firing to cone 01. I then glaze each piece and fire it again to cone 04, allowing the natural textures and nuances of the clay to emerge.
The entire process, from shaping the clay to the final firing, is a meditation on the impermanence of the natural world—each piece a reflection of the fleeting beauty that surrounds me, with the hope of capturing something lasting within its fragility.
