Birmingham, AL

Ceramics

Throughout my years in the art department at the University of Montevallo, I struggled to give my work depth, hoping to allow it to be a culmination and release for the ideals that would swirl, unreachable, within my head. In the multi-disciplinary art program, the expression did come slowly over the years, mainly through my work in clay. However, I am glad I spent time learning different mediums in school. I had to learn to see things in new ways, and I think that plays itself out in clay by helping me see the forms and their function, more holistically.

After graduation with a BA in Art, I spent a year in Brazil teaching English, and occasionally art. The Brazilian culture and way of thinking is so much freer in their perception of natural beauty %u2013 even flawed things are accepted and serve a purpose. In a way, I think it helped soften my approach to the ideals in my head of how my work should look %u2013 things that keep me from actually making my art.

Even from childhood, I always felt that I should be creating art, like somehow I am most myself when I am in my studio. It didn%u2019t matter what I was doing either, as long as it was a chance to be original and creative. Though I enjoy a variety of mediums, sitting down at the potter%u2019s wheel becomes a reminder of the joy in the process. I like to think about things being beautiful in their everyday place, like in the art nouveau movement. Things had functionality and encompassed a lot of different mediums.

I work with high fire clay and glazes, which gives me the range of finishes and natural various I grew to love while using numerous kilns at Montevallo, though I personally own only one kiln. The spontaneity of my personality is reflected in how I work. Sometimes I stay with a certain style, and other times it%u2019s the function I%u2019m going for, but usually the idea that I start with is hardly the reality. As I throw, the piece kind of becomes what it is. Wheel-throwing clay is conducive to shedding my expectations and just seeing what shapes and forms come out as I push and pull the clay. I like the idea that you never know what you%u2019ll get.