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Artist's Statement 

All my ceramic work is hand-built and high fired. In hand-building, I use coils, slabs, and gobs of clay to create my sculptures. Hand-built means my large pieces require up to a week to build, and then must be dried very slowly in order to avoid uneven shrinkage, which causes cracks. This drying process can take up to two months. Once the sculpture is put in the kiln, any moisture in the piece can cause it to crack, pop, or even to throw chunks of clay around, destroying anything else being cooked in the kiln with it.

Conservatively, it takes about three months from beginning a large piece til it is finished, and the piece can be lost at any stage of this process.

I hope I've made this sound like some tricky business, because, for me, that is exactly what it is. I have lost more pieces than I can count, and I do get discouraged, suffer from "kiln rage", and become outright despondent over the losses. I keep at it, because as I am building each piece, there is a point when I come to put the clay on for the face - the chin - cheeks - jaw - when from one instant to the next, the clay piece becomes a clay person. I am in her space, and I am anxious to see what she will look like. I care about her and am glad to meet her. Have I done right by her? Will she survive the process?

This page was last updated on February 13, 2008

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