"If you ask me what I came into this life to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud." -Emile Zola
Ceramics is a way of expressing myself and my values when words simply do not suffice. I enjoy hand-building my pieces because of the intimate relationship that I can create with the clay. I try to challenge myself by working with different techniques and ideas, and nature is a reoccurring theme throughout my work. I believe that simple forms do not necessarily have to be plain, and I like to work with two-color themes to add details to my work.
Through working with clay, I have learned to focus on each step along the way instead of the more overwhelming, whole piece. Especially in clay, I have found that it is extremely important to complete each step well because any mistakes will only reappear later on. Often, I start out with a very specific idea of how my project should turn out, but along the way I make drastic changes. Generally, I design my piece in my sketchbook as a complicated piece, and during the process I simplify in order to highlight and emphasize certain aspects. I like to improvise as I work and I often choose my glaze colors or idea after my piece is already completed; my original ideas do not necessarily carry through to the end. I try to challenge myself to experiment with new forms and new glazing techniques and although the process is sometimes painstaking, I enjoy every minute of it. However, when I am unhappy with my experiments, instead of treating them as mistakes, I attempt to make them into something else. Many of my ideas are fueled by these blemishes, and imperfections fuel creativity. I have learned the limitations of controlling things because in clay, a large degree of the piece is left to chance but instead of shying away from this aspect of uncertainty, I have grown to embrace it. It is important to be able to be flexible and work with your clay, rather that just work your clay.
Nature is a big inspiration in many of my pieces, and I enjoy using all the different elements in my work. Currently, I am exploring working with pieces that represent my changing personality and interests as I discover my identity. The more I learn how to work and mold clay, the more I learn how to mold myself to become the person I want to be, and I enjoy focusing on different things that are relevant to my life at the time. One piece that I made this year was my cairn-inspired teapot. While the teapot is functional, it is a sculptural piece in which I attempted to combine my love for hiking with my love for yoga. Cairns, which are rock sculptures that hikers leave along trails to signify their presence, remind me of the beauty in nature and the idea that one can add to the environment without destroying other things. While the cairns will not exist forever and they are apt to fall, their ephemeral nature highlights that everything changes but all we can do is hope to make something beautiful while we can, for as long as we can. My teapot and teacups are decorated with yoga symbols of the seven different chakras, which are the power sources in the body. Yoga is a great escape from the pressures of everyday life and I often turn to meditation to keep my life calm. Yoga helps keep my spirit in balance and even though my stability is often threatened by stress and pressure, it teeters in an uncertain but manageable place, just like the precariously balanced rocks in my teapot. I hope that my piece reminds the viewer to look for beauty in simple things, like rocks, and to never be afraid to balance your life so that one can grow taller and stronger. However, one always has to maintain a balance, in life and in rocks.