MISSION STATEMENT

Crack!

The hammer comes down and the little ceramic figurine is irrevocably changed.  It’s as if some secret inner energy is released: figures, plates, cups, and saucers start to twist and dance; suddenly, they have a story to tell.  I never know exactly how my materials will respond to the crack of the hammer, but that is part of the appeal.  Total control can lead to totally predictable art.  I’d rather be inspired and challenged by the luck of the break.

I have always been fascinated by how things change in time.  It’s what drew me to New Orleans – the amazing juxtaposition of disintegration and decay with joyful, irrepressible life.  New creations grow out of the ruins of what came before.

We’re seeing this on the grand scale in New Orleans, post-Katrina – but the same forces that move civilizations also inform the smallest and most intimate levels of our lives.  Buddhists refer to this principle as “impermanence” – the truth that stasis is only an illusion.  Everything changes, and I look for the beauty in change.

As I find the relationships between my figures, I play with the way the human eye decodes fragments to create its own connections.  Context is everything.

This includes the context in which my work is viewed.  I want to break open the little box in which people normally put familiar household objects like lamps, tables, and chairs. They are so familiar we don’t even really see them most of the time.  My goal is to inspire my viewers to see the world with fresh and curious eyes.