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Clay is a center in my life. I am involved with it in one way or another almost every day. Through it I express my love for the natural world and its continuous beauty. I am fortunate to make my living as an artist, sharing my visions in a medium to which I feel deeply connected. Year after year clay has pushed my artistry and brought me further into its depths. And I continue to learn to express myself through clay. By putting my hands to it each day, I am able to fulfill a need to create from, and be in touch with, the earth. I work at home from a country studio located 15 minutes from downtown Ithaca. I start each work day with Taiwanese tea brewed Kung-Fu style in an Yixing teapot. Sipping it, I listen to the birds and enjoy beautiful views of rolling hills, forests and meadows. This and other connections to nature are expressed and shared in my works. I am a nationally exhibiting ceramic artist specializing in hand-carved trompe l'oeil vessels which I transform into weathered logs, stumps and branches. I combine Yixing-inspired craftsmanship and technique with contemporary ceramic forms. My works express an imaginative, gestural, and often figurative perspective, offering a fresh interpretation of the trompe l'oeil tradition. Clay found me in 1996 when I took a hobby pottery class to find a new creative outlet and bring more balance to a busy corporate career. I expected to simply discover an enjoyable pastime. Instead, clay dug its way into my very core. I began Muddy Paws™ Pottery, a functional pottery production business, in effort to follow clay's calling and to bring a new spirit and satisfaction to my work life. At present I dedicate all of my studio time to creating trompe l'oeil sculptures. I have a BA in communication from Ithaca College, where I also studied art history in Ithaca and London. My primary applied art training came in the form of two artist residencies studying with Ah Leon and other masters in Taiwan. Both were funded in part by New York Foundation for the Arts grants. Since 2005, my ceramic art has been awarded and exhibited in museums and galleries across the country. It has been featured in in Ceramics Monthly, Pottery Making Illustrated, Clay Times, and Ceramic Art (Taiwan), as well as in several books on ceramic art. I have given demonstrations, workshops and presentations in the USA, Canada and Taiwan and recently guest-curated a ceramics exhibition for the H. F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University. My work is included
in the Everson Museum of Art collection and recognized national teapot
collections. Several new pieces are presently heading to permanent museum
collections. I am inspired by the purity of nature, the craftsmanship of ancient Yixing masters, and Asian art and philosophies. I appreciate how pottery reflects the earth's durability and fragility—strong, yet easily destroyed if disrespected. Whether premeditated or spontaneously created, each piece is a relationship…the story of shared discovery. The clay and I make the journey together. Often we agree and, many times, we do not. Regardless, the final form, the result of our conversation, has a life all its own. Each piece is made in honor of the earth and with the intention of bringing a sense of harmony and joy to the recipient. My trompe l'oeil sculptures represent a transformation. They are the reflection of philosophies and aesthetics that have formed me and are expressed anew through me. The love of nature and the Buddhist principles of harmony. The fine craftsmanship of wares from Yixing, China. The beauty in imperfection, expressed so gracefully by the Japanese concept of wabi sabi and by nature herself. They represent nature's triumph of existence, regardless of the disregard we humans have shown her. Coming from disparate sources, these inspirations become one and flow like the wind and the water on the earth that feeds my soul, thus shaping the twisted branches and deeply weathered stumps. They are inspired by years of climbing, sitting in and observing trees, and are created with meticulous detail—some over 100 hours in the making—to bring forth trees' magnificence, individuality and energy. |
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Introduction