Artist's Statement
Familiarity evokes memory and I look to this association to present nostalgia through form. My reference to rural American architecture and antique rural implements places the viewer in a familiar setting which is layered with time, function and history while color creates celebration in these iconic objects. The vessel forms tie these objects back to the domestic space, enriching ones living environment while allowing for quiet contemplation and a reminder of a simpler time. The colors used refer to milk painted surfaces, layered and stained by generations of use and the elements and steel tacks are placed in the clay surface to give a direct connection to ideas of construction and joinery. The vessels relate to buckets, tool caddies, toolboxes, connecting the ritual of use back to the everyday, creating a connection to the importance of our most simple actions.
A quote by Pete Seeger states… "The greatest paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings yet shorter tempers, we have wider freeways yet narrower viewpoints, we spend more yet we have less, we buy more yet we enjoy it less, we have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences and less time." As members of the American society we are caught up in the hurried lifestyle that surrounds us. Work pervades our every thought and action and we allow no time for peaceful contemplation or personal reflection. We as a society are caught in a cycle that is unraveling the very fabric, the connection to person and place that binds us. We are no longer attached to our community, we no longer know our neighbors, and, at times it seems as though we don't even know ourselves. It is through my work that I am addressing these issues of loss of community, loss of sacred place, loss of personal history, and the need to pay attention to what is around us. I believe that we need to re-connect to our surroundings, people, objects and community. My work is meant to be the catalyst for those connections.