ARTIST STATEMENT
My quasi-narrative artworks, inspired by nature, mythology, and human ancestry, draw on the cultural reverence and iconography of flora, fauna, and traditions. Using ceramics, a material rooted in geological time, I preserve culture, convey messages, and shape identity. Expansive landscapes and recurring sculptural forms, like empty shells, invite contemplation about humanity's place and impact in the universe, emphasizing the ephemeral nature of life and the passage of time.
ARTIST STATEMENTS PER SERIES
"Ancestral Reverie" Wall Statement
"Ancestral Reverie" Wall Statement
"Ancestral Reverie" Wall Statement
This series, Ancestral Reverie, utilizes the unique effects of illustrating with glaze on ceramic wall forms to create abstract landscapes, imbued with an eerie and haunting allure. Many draw inspiration from my childhood near the swamps of the Big Thicket, echoing memories of the land that built me. Ethereal shapes emerge within these la
This series, Ancestral Reverie, utilizes the unique effects of illustrating with glaze on ceramic wall forms to create abstract landscapes, imbued with an eerie and haunting allure. Many draw inspiration from my childhood near the swamps of the Big Thicket, echoing memories of the land that built me. Ethereal shapes emerge within these landscapes, serving as a bridge to our ancestral past and the indigenous inhabitants who once traversed these lands. This tribute to those who preceded us features the sun or moon presiding over the horizon, becoming an enduring connection to history and a visual thread weaving through our collective landscapes.
"Ethereality" Wall Statement
"Ancestral Reverie" Wall Statement
"Ancestral Reverie" Wall Statement
This series, Ethereality, is an exploration of the human experience and our cosmic existence. Each artwork encapsulates an essence of the spirit, often adopting birdlike forms, with a noticeable focus on the recurring owl motif - a symbol commonly associated with the afterlife. The expansive landscapes depicted compel contemplation about
This series, Ethereality, is an exploration of the human experience and our cosmic existence. Each artwork encapsulates an essence of the spirit, often adopting birdlike forms, with a noticeable focus on the recurring owl motif - a symbol commonly associated with the afterlife. The expansive landscapes depicted compel contemplation about humanity's place in the vast universe, emphasizing the ephemeral nature of life against the cosmic backdrop. The use of ceramics, a material rooted in geological time, preserves culture, conveys messages, and shapes identity. In essence, this series catalyzes introspection into the fleeting nature of time and our impact on this world.
"Quiescence" Wall Statement
"Ancestral Reverie" Wall Statement
"(un)sheltered" Wall Statement
Meditative based contemplations of time fuel this new series of work, Quiescence. Each work embodies time: capturing a moment in time, nature reclaiming in time, questioning uses and teachings of time, the time before the bloom, and what time has left behind are some recurring themes.
Quiescence is a word that came to me in my Master’s th
Meditative based contemplations of time fuel this new series of work, Quiescence. Each work embodies time: capturing a moment in time, nature reclaiming in time, questioning uses and teachings of time, the time before the bloom, and what time has left behind are some recurring themes.
Quiescence is a word that came to me in my Master’s thesis as part of the definition of a chrysalis; a quiescent pupa. A being in the middle of a transition. A being on the verge of emerging into something it’s never been before. I have always been fascinated by what nature can teach us. I am more impressed with the transitional state then the actual emerged form. A variety of shells are left behind: cicada exoskeletons, apple snail shells, turtle shells, rib cages. I am more connected to the shell; the memory that is left behind.
Time is concerned through inspirations of replications in nature. The repetition of circles can be seen through the abstract rendering of honeycombs, wasp nests, mud dauber nests, spirals within shells, and eroded hole forms. Anything created in repetition is meditative and therapeutic. Repeatedly creating forms with clay like extruded moss and fungus pushed through mesh, throwing round forms on the wheel, rolling up tiny eggs between fingers, beating textures with stones and wood, cutting out organic erosion shapes over and over again are all processes that allow the brain to enter a zen state.
Installation based scenes and other sculptures include found objects collected from various walks, runs, and trips. Items like bones, wasps nests, and rocks from arrowhead hunting trips in the Hill Country of Texas, pieces of weathered and twisted driftwood found hopping across rocks while fishing the Pedernales River. Some items were collected from students along the ocean shores of Galveston. Some items were collected from my geologist significant other, mined and collected, from explorations all over the world. The invasive apple snail leaves shell remains once eaten and emptied by raccoons along Lake Edwards. Sculpted clay egg forms of the invasive apple snail are scattered throughout. All of these collected and cherished items juxtaposed together with handmade clay forms serve as a visual memoir.
Ephemeral moments are captured through the hanging chrysalis awaiting its new life, the momentarily perched beetle, and the incessant cricket chirping in the night. While the characters differ the overall message remains. These moments teach us about Quiescence and serve as a reminder of being present in the moment, being fully mindful; they teach us to be still.
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” - Anaïs Nin
"(un)sheltered" Wall Statement
"Overcoming Adversity" Wall Statement
"(un)sheltered" Wall Statement
Nature inspires the creation of my mythical, quasi-narrative artworks. Each work encapsulates a memory of my world at that time. The stories are somewhat ambiguous as they represent personal experiences. The characters are typically anthropomorphized animals and bugs. I research the different meanings of spirit animals across different cu
Nature inspires the creation of my mythical, quasi-narrative artworks. Each work encapsulates a memory of my world at that time. The stories are somewhat ambiguous as they represent personal experiences. The characters are typically anthropomorphized animals and bugs. I research the different meanings of spirit animals across different cultures and let the outcomes influence the choice of animal. Animals always have two sides of meanings, both positive and negative. In my work I like to leave mystery of exactly what each animal is meant to represent. I play with the different dualities that elude to a story. Dualities that deal with nature and human experience including reoccurring themes of life and death, love and hate, hope and despair, openness and guardedness. I let my art develop and change overtime with every new person I meet and every adventure I begin. Yet I still let my art remain abstruse allowing viewers to deduce their own meanings of my world.
This thesis series, (un)sheltered, straddles the notion, often built by society, about constructing external walls, both physical and mental, and deconstructing walls. Reoccurring themes of containment occur through different cages. The idea of a cage goes further than just a welded steel cage or rib cage. A chrysalis, a quiescent insect pupa, becomes a strong metaphorical cage throughout many of the works. In The Ruiner, a chrysalis hangs at the top of a tower with an alligator lurking below. The identity and intentions of the alligator remain unclear. The chrysalis shines like gold from the polished bronze that it was made. Gold becomes another common thread between my works and is meant to represent hope, new beginnings, or new adventures.
Emergence from the World You Built explores another story and use of shelter. A cast bronze cicada shell stands empty at the top of a ceramic tower stacked on the back of a turtle. The turtle as a symbol of the world is very iconic throughout different cultures. The empty cicada exoskeleton, a species which only leaves its casing, juxtaposes ironically with the turtle, whom has the choice to protrude or recede within its biological container. Gold accents the cracks in the vessel, while two-dimensional cicada motifs remain, both serving as a memory of what was.
Two works that incorporate welded birdcages are Lament the Confines and Break these Fabricated Bounds. A dead bird lays within the enclosed birdcage in Lament the Confines contrasted by a virtuously styled bird busting through in Break these Fabricated Bounds. While the moral of the story seems obvious I invite the viewer to really consider as humans the need to build cages and build walls.
Whether it is a chrysalis, rib cage, steel cage, turtle shell, or cicada exoskeleton there are many advantages and disadvantages to being, having, or seeking shelter. I encourage the viewer to interpret the overall message from each sculpture and allow them to create their own impression of my world.
"Overcoming Adversity" Wall Statement
"Overcoming Adversity" Wall Statement
"Overcoming Adversity" Wall Statement
This thesis, Overcoming Adversity, consists of a culmination of ceramic, glass, paper, and light mixed media sculptures. The raku clay sculptures depict stories of the artist through the anthropomorphizing of animals in a way that melds fantasy and personal experience. Artistic expression through the manipulation of clay becomes a medicin
This thesis, Overcoming Adversity, consists of a culmination of ceramic, glass, paper, and light mixed media sculptures. The raku clay sculptures depict stories of the artist through the anthropomorphizing of animals in a way that melds fantasy and personal experience. Artistic expression through the manipulation of clay becomes a medicinal way the artist can heal. Personal marks open the door for viewers to reflect on their own struggles through analysis of each work. The post reduction process for raku clay provides this thesis with an array of fantastical colors. The colorful animals depicted are rendered with immense detail and care. The addition of glass, light, and paper elements adds to the luminous beauty. A common thread of oppositions of good and evil, positive and negative, life and death transpire throughout the works. Ultimately the sculptures represent life in an honest way that uncovers the truths of danger and death and overcoming such adversity.