For years I’ve used woodturning to craft my objects. I love the removal of wood to reveal a form underneath. Woodturning taught me to use my sense of touch to create a curve. 

Then one day I picked up a crochet hook and repeated a stitch. The rhythm felt right and I went on for days. I was left with a product I hadn't planned to create.

Next, a teacher handed me a lump of clay and showed me how to pinch and coil. I went on and on for days. For months. I may never stop.

The feeling of clay between my fingers soothes me. My pieces are made with a hand building technique called coil building. I work with a gritty sculpture clay that feels a bit like plunging my hands into wet beach sand.

After sculpting a piece in my home studio I finish it at the Visual Arts Center, a community studio in Richmond, Virginia. First I tint clear or white glaze with bold colors I blend from pigment powders called Mason stains. Then after the work is fired I sandblast and treat my vase or sculpture with mineral oil to give it a buttery soft finish.

While I cannot tell you why, my work has always tended toward a playful interpretation of the human form. The names my kids assign each piece are the perfect completion to each.