2025 Workshop Series

My work reflects the experiences I have had in my life that depict the human condition and are often painful, and uncomfortable. I try to use humor to draw the viewer into the work. I find that using these opposites is an effective way to get a message across. I use anthropomorphic figures as the vehicle to explore the emotions that we all experience in our own humanity. I reference art history, contemporary culture, religion, mythology, and other forms of social determinism in non-traditional ways to engage my subjects in activities that confront the viewer with the experiences of our own fallibility. To accentuate the narrative, I use various surface treatments to emphasize different aspects of the work. Along with a minimal use of colorful glazes and stains, I use a surface technique that I developed known as "Naked Fauxku". This approach reproduces a likeness to Naked Raku but is created in a high-fire, oxygenated atmosphere with no reduction. The advantage of this technique is that it creates a cracked and painful-looking surface that adds subliminal meaning to the work, while technically imparting it with a durability that is unattainable from un-vitrified raku work.