ARTIST STATEMENT

Illustrations of a single and quiet moment, these ceramic objects mark an instance in time when we are born into thinking, dreaming, contributing creatures. This birth takes place at every moment of our existence.

Consciously and unconsciously our minds are continually seeking to define our experiences of the natural world. If one of these single moments in the human mind could be captured in a physical form, what would that moment look like, act like, and feel like? How precise or how rough would it appear?

Employing ceramics as the medium, I use both hand-building and wheel-throwing techniques to create forms that reference eggs, nuts, squash, or stones, which act as physical metaphors. These metaphors describe the beginnings of life, natural processes, and objects that occur without human intervention or invention. I then juxtapose what are obvious human made marks and manipulations onto these “natural” objects through different surface treatment, marring the surface with incisions, or augmenting with extrusions.

Similar to finding an extraordinary rock on the beach, or a uniquely shaped vegetable in the market, the viewer stops to wonder. What is this? How did it become this way? Where did it come from? What made it like this? These ceramic objects beg the same questions from viewers, which is to wonder the mystery of their existence and meaning.

Yet, the significance of the work is not the physical object, but instead lies in the mind that gazes in interest. With the same questions that were asked in my mind during the making, the object's meaning is re-created during the moment of pondering by the viewer.