“Your relationship to objects is selective, personal; only the things you feel yours become yours; it is a relationship with the
physicality of things, not with an intellectual or affective idea that takes the place of seeing them and touching them. And once
they are attached to you, marked by your possession, the objects no longer seem to be there by chance, they assume meaning
as elements of a discourse…”
Italo Calvino. If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler. Page 143
ARTIST STATEMENT
I have an idea for a play, or at least for the format of one, in which human actors are
replaced by empty costumes set among the necessary theatrical props. Aside from lighting
changes and scene dialogue read from the wings, there is no other activity onstage. Early
innovators in motion studies discovered persistence of vision, in which the retina briefly
retains flashed still images. Utilizing this phenomenon to develop the perception of motion,
they would show a sequence of images knowing that the brain would fill the time gaps
between frames. I would apply an interpretation of this discovery to the play to see
whether the tone of the dramatic dialogue can bring life to the vacancy in the costumes
through the perception and imagination of the audience.
In my pottery, I examine this format of vacancy and the tenuous balance it requires of the
viewer-participant in establishing completion. Knowing that the porcelain will become
active components within a home, I design each piece so that it can adapt to place and to
the personal preferences of each homeowner. In my studio I resist the artistic impulse to
create overall resolution, opting instead to leave room for improvisation by the cook
whose own need for creative resolution is just as necessary as mine. By leaving the glaze
color neutral, cooks recognize the invitation for a spinach, strawberry and almond salad or
perhaps for a grilled turkey club panini with purple onion. In this way, color is not a fixed
quality in the pottery, allowing it to have an active role in daily cooking.
Paring the tableware down for utilitarian needs, the round forms develop consistency
within a dinner set while the patterns, variations of lines and grids, offer individual distinction
while maintaining the unity of the set. Patterns extend to the rims of plates and seemingly
beyond to interact with the incidental, linear, domestic patterns present in shadows and in
the architectural elements of wooden floors and stair railings. My patterns respond to
contemporary home design trends while bridging to the pliability of handcrafted textiles.
The generalized character of the patterns allow the porcelain to adapt to place easily,
becoming a complement to a diversity of existing home designs.
In order for a pot to be functional it must be used. As the potter I design opportunities for
the homeowner to add color to the porcelain and to incorporate it actively with other
objects currently in the home. These purposefully designed thematic openings promote
substantial connections between the pottery and its audience by drawing out practical and
aesthetic utility within an advocacy for creative living.
PO Box 33333, Baton Rouge, LA 70802