Artist Statement

I make utilitarian pots using a precise, clean, and efficient geometric language as I try to define perfectly handmade. The act of making allows me to practice my craft repeatedly while looking for the nuance of how much evidence of handwork I put in and how much hand I take out.

I am curious and appreciative that functional pots continue to retain relevance in our evolving and modernized society. I believe this importance is due to our innate need for connection to expressive and creative human thoughts and feelings. Working as a functional potter provides me an opportunity to invent objects that fit into experiences that enhance the user’s life through the use of originally designed and exquisitely crafted objects. The resulting establishment of a personal connection between the user and the maker through the object is reserved only for personal production for personal use.

The simultaneous attention of the user on the objects and the attention of objects on the user speaks to the unique nature of individually handmade objects. The constant refocusing of the viewer/user invites a more conscientious operation of the objects, hopefully presenting questions of what is perfection and what occurs when the traditional aesthetic definition of handmade is circumvented.

Discussion Q&A

WHY FUNCTIONAL POTS?

Of all the art experiences I have had, using a handmade pot perpetually remains in my list of best artistic experiences. Using handmade pots can become oddly profound at times contemplating the communication from maker-to-user. The maker gives non-verbal instructions to their participants to hold here, place your fingers in this way, feel the weight, discover subtle texture, it’s similar to melded performance art. The viewer/user is the both the subject/participant and the potter choreographs the actions without speaking or gesturing. Functional pots are quiet sitting on the shelf, but can be curiously bossy when used. Far too many of my art experiences are purely mental, they only exist in my mind without using my body. Functional pots challenge that through their usage. Through the integration of a mind and body experience, we develop deeper relationships with the objects we both touch and think about VS only our thoughts. The physicality matters.

CAN YOU EXPAND ON THE IDEAS SURROUNDING “PERFECTLY HANDMADE”?

I love the juxtaposition of these two concepts. The liminal space between handmade and perfect is where I choose to struggle, it’s artistic resistance training for me. All of the objects I make are the current demonstration of my thoughts and abilities relating to perfect and handmade.

I have many thoughts on what and why handmade looks the way it does in the field of Ceramics. It’s safe to say that the dominant aesthetic of handmade in clay looks like pinched fingerprints, throwing lines, and the “clay records my touch as proof I was there” type of thinking. Which makes sense given clay’s malleability and direct recording of touch, it’s very intuitive and quickly understood. This has been true for millennia, and for very good reasons it is not going away. Maybe even gaining importance nowadays due to technological creep and the enshittification of everything. I also think these are very old ideas, that have been explored for generations across every culture, and the visual definition of handmade is not finalized. If I am going to do anything approaching original (if that still exists) then I must diverge from these well-travelled pathways. When developing new work, I use a rule that everything I have seen is an example of what not to do. That gives me ground to push against. 

My current working definitions of perfectly handmade begins with originality and single person authorship which connotes authenticity. It continues with a demonstration of technical proficiency and highly skilled craftsmanship. It concludes with another person connecting to me through an object I made that carries a type of transcendence.