My work is concerned with the relationship of humanity and nature. I conceive of an expanded concept of “Nature” as embodying all existence, both the seen and unseen, socio-political events, daily occurrences, as well as private intuitions that are made concrete through creative action. My objects are places of remembrance where multiplicities of associations take place. Their function is that of contemplation and the transmission of the energy contained within them.
Through additive and subtractive manipulation, the sculptures evolve to where a combination of vision and intent project a final resolution. This process is one of discovery where the known (ones prior history) and intuition come in to play. One enters in to the dialogue of energies brought into being within a specific moment of time. Most recently these have been concerned with issues of Church and State, Abu Ghraib and the Iraq War – issues of the human condition. Often the resultant forms are discovered as though they were pre-existent and my own actions are simply to reveal their inherent truth.
Releasing the sculpture to the fire of the wood burning kiln is yet one more step in the process of the objects becoming. It has taken on the transmission of elemental forces which in turn radiate to the viewer all that it has become and will further become through time. It is within this realm of possibilities, where the object’s primary function is that of expanded awareness, that primarily concerns me.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
The sculptures are typically made from 150lbs to 300lbs of heavily grogged stoneware clay. A solid mass of clay is often built up on a circular bat that is seated on a pedestal at approximately waist height. By walking around the mass, the general form is roughed out by paddling and then carved in a similar fashion with large trimming tools. Slabbed elements are sometimes also attached and carved. After several weeks of careful drying, the sculptures are hollowed out and left to thoroughly dry. The sculptures are then fired in my Japanese style, eighteen foot long, double chambered Hybrid-Noborigama wood-fired kiln for one week in atmospheric reduction to pyrometric cone eight (2,257 F.) to ten (2,345 F.). Approximately four cords of mixed hardwood are used throughout the firing.
PAINTING WITH FIRE
In wood-firing it is my intent to work hand in hand with nature, to dust the surface of the sculpture with a wood-ash patina and to impart the vibrancy of fire color to their form.
