Fundamentally my formal architectural training and years of working for architectural firms have informed my design sensibilities about how I create forms, relationships, movement, scale, and other design elements.

I envision a piece by making multiple penciled sketches, looking at form, proportion, tripartite division, hierarchy of detail, inventiveness, pottery craft, and traditions. Sometimes, to realize the vision for what I seek to achieve in a piece, I throw out tradition and replace it with the initial inspiration that led me to conceive the piece. The result is a vessel that is graceful and well-proportioned.

 Sometimes I use clays that contain chemical components that offer depth and speckles through the glazes when fired. The vessels thrown with these clays twist in the kiln because I fire them beyond the clay’s threshold temperature, resulting in vessels with captivating distortions.

 Lately, the glazes I use have disrupted surfaces after directly applying them to the vessel and also after being kiln-fired. The glaze crawls, cracks, or flakes off from the vessel during both application and firing processes. I want the glaze to both complement and contrast with my intent to make a vessel that is graceful, well-portioned, and statuesque.