Exploring Growth, Integration, & Play Working in Clay: Finding Pathways to Healing and Hope
My ceramic practice is a meandering journey of inquiry and discovery through themes of growth, integration, and play. While working in my home-studio, I investigate these themes on a formal, practical, and personal level.
My formal investigation begins with a fascination for creating spirals out of container-like-forms such as a bowl, cup, plate, and vase. I create the forms by hand or on my wheel. After constructing, I employ various methods of opening and staking them into sculptures or incorporating them in functional table-and-housewares. When something goes wrong in the creation process, during forming or firing, my inquiry continues. I am curious about the imperfections, failures, and mistakes during or after the creation of my ceramic objects. When everything does not go according to plan, instead of scraping broken or wonky pieces, I seek ways to honor and use the disappointment. I see the disruption as an opportunity to play with configuring new forms and combining materials. It is also an opportunity to continue my themes on growth, integration, and play.
On a practical level, I find all aspects of creating useful from the gathering and preparation of materials to the formation and transformation of ceramic-objects. I am fascinated with how different clays require adjustments in handling to work with them effectively. I enjoy processing ceramic materials and learning about them through collecting various rocks and minerals locally, pulverizing them by hand, and adding them to create workability in my clay. Additionally, I discover the hidden properties of aggregate additions, including sand, ground rocks, precious, and semiprecious stones, when they react to the heat, oxygen, and carbon of different kiln-environments. I integrate and play with these discoveries through finding meaning in their newly revealed expressions and strategically using them in future work.
On a personal level, what draws me most to work in clay is that it helps me cope with my imperfect reality, which I find refuge from while in my studio. The smell of clay grounds me and something in my psyche is satisfied by the immediate response and tactile qualities of clay. The autonomy and safety I feel in my studio provides a therapeutic space to work through anxiety where I am unburdened by consequence or fear of judgement. I can slow down and reflect on my current mood or recent interactions in my life. The repetitive motions of forming, opening, and integrating remind me to remain open in my perceptions-and responsive to alternate possibilities. Through the processes and experiences inside my studio—with an intrapersonal orientation—I intend to find pathways towards healing and hope for interconnection and community outside my creative space.