18 Orb Horizontal

Lowland studio sits on the bank of the Sawkill river in Woodstock, N.Y. Everything flows downstream to here: Sycamore seed, birch bark, deer bones, coyote teeth, fossils, styrofoam balls - it all ends up in The Lowland and is all a part of what has inspired this work. All pieces are designed, thrown, carved, fired and assembled here.

My love for ceramics was sparked twenty years ago, digging earthenware clay from the banks of the Winooski River in Vermont, creating glazes from raw materials for rough stoneware bodies that were wood-fired. Discovering what each material would do in the flame and heat of a 2300 degree kiln was a revelation. I traveled through West Africa and Eastern Europe studying the human relationship between fire and clay. I found my way to the Catskills, drawn to a community of potters engaged in the tradition of Anagama wood-fired techniques. Taken by the beauty of the Hudson Valley, I left clay for a time to practice Ecology and Landscape Design.

Returning to clay, this work is driven by my fascination with the perfect decay and growth I have witnessed in nature, and porcelain's pure reflection of texture, form and shadow. Illuminating it is unpredictable and exciting in the way I have always found clay and fire to be.