My artistic philosophy revolves around establishing a connection between the human body and the earth; exploring ways to collaborate with the natural world to create works of art that are beyond something achievable by a human alone. As a ceramicist working with wild clay, I am in tune to the earth in its ever-changing state. I seek to convey the interdependence of human and earth through my body of work, which consists of abstract sculptures and traditional vessel forms, often coexisting.

My practice is rooted in physicality and connection, but my specific research interests follow the natural path of rapid evolution. Beginning on a microscopic level, my undergraduate senior thesis exhibition “...By the Elements of Being,” focused on the way that our cellular structures mimic those of the natural world, and how these atomic webs bind us to the planet we live on. Using wild clay vessels to metaphorically represent the human body paired with improvisational coil structures, this series takes the viewer through a full life cycle while portraying seven different interactions between the human body and the earth: Cradled, Nourished, Cleansed, Connected, Bound, Decomposed, and Returned to The Earth.

 Since earning my undergraduate degree, I have gone on to study partnered movement as a ceramicist, and how the creation of art can be both tangible and performative- a dance between maker and medium. My sculptures start as slabs of clay which are disassembled, distorted, and intuitively rejoined. There is no distinct or clear solution, orientation, or perception. The clay and I explore and push each other’s limits through improvisation, weight sharing, trust, balance, problem solving, and reorientation. Through this nonverbal dialogue, the clay tells me where it wants to go, and I help it get there. My practice truly began when I started treating the clay as a fellow artist, giving the medium agency and autonomy over the final product. 

I am drawn to alternative firing techniques such as pit, saggar, raku, wood, salt, and soda firings. These firing methods require more active human participation than electric or traditional gas firings, allowing the materials and I to continue to collaborate from start to finish.