I have been working in ceramics for seven years. I began by working on the wheel and learning to make functional work at a local pottery studio. After six months I moved to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Glassell School. There I took a hand building class. That class changed my direction. I quickly began to pursue making abstract sculptural pieces.
My earlier work always began with a curved line on paper. Once refined, that line would become the profile of the piece. From there I would sketch in the volume until I had a drawing of the piece that I wanted to build.
Most of my work has been full, rounded, closed abstract pieces. The shape has been what was most important to me so my pieces have rarely been glazed.
Lately I have been working a little differently. Now I seem to find that I get a thought in my head and as I run it though my mind I find that I have several versions that I want to explore. The series that is currently in my studio in the Silos came to me after sitting in a church during a wedding. I kept think about that moment in someone’s life, what it meant and how best to translate that moment into sculpture. The resulting works are abstract sculptures dealing with the coming together of two halves… the leaning on and leaning in…. the melding of the parts and new beginnings that result in a whole.
This spring I was in Paris at the Musee D’orsay. When I came into one of the rooms I found myself in front of Manet’s painting Olympia. It stopped me in my tracks and I was struck by the power of Olympia’s gaze. As I stood there, I remembered that forty years ago in art history class I had viewed a slide of the painting. I remembered being told that the painting was of a prostitute and was considered shocking at the time because of the subject matter, a totally nude prostitute and the fact that she did not advert her gaze.
If you are not familiar with the painting, it is of a young woman, reclining on a sofa in the nude. She is staring out with a straight forward look at the viewer. In the background shadow is a maid presenting a bouquet of flowers.
As I lingered there looking at the painting, I focused on the bouquet in the background and realized that it was through the inclusion of the bouquet that Manet tells a much fuller story; that of the relationship between Olympia and the man that we cannot see but who had thought enough of Olympia to bring her the magnificent bouquet.
I kept thinking of that painting and it seemed very relevant today….it reminded me that too often the stories that are told and discussed are of the shocking or sensational and that we need to spend more time looking for the less obvious information that completes the story and is often lost in everyday noise.
So for my latest series, Bouquet, I wanted to bring the bouquet to the forefront as my reminder to myself to pay greater attention getting the fuller more complete story.
I am not finished making bouquets but I already have a few new ideas that I am rolling around and want to explore next.
Sections
I have been working in ceramics for seven years. I began by working on the wheel and learning to make functional work at a local pottery studio. After six months I moved to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Glassell School. There I took a hand building class. That class changed my direction. I quickly began to pursue making abstract sculptural pieces.
My earlier work always began with a curved line on paper. Once refined, that line would become the profile of the piece. From there I would sketch in the volume until I had a drawing of the piece that I wanted to build.
Most of my work has been full, rounded, closed abstract pieces. The shape has been what was most important to me so my pieces have rarely been glazed.
Lately I have been working a little differently. Now I seem to find that I get a thought in my head and as I run it though my mind I find that I have several versions that I want to explore. The series that is currently in my studio in the Silos came to me after sitting in a church during a wedding. I kept think about that moment in someone’s life, what it meant and how best to translate that moment into sculpture. The resulting works are abstract sculptures dealing with the coming together of two halves… the leaning on and leaning in…. the melding of the parts and new beginnings that result in a whole.
This spring I was in Paris at the Musee D’orsay. When I came into one of the rooms I found myself in front of Manet’s painting Olympia. It stopped me in my tracks and I was struck by the power of Olympia’s gaze. As I stood there, I remembered that forty years ago in art history class I had viewed a slide of the painting. I remembered being told that the painting was of a prostitute and was considered shocking at the time because of the subject matter, a totally nude prostitute and the fact that she did not advert her gaze.
If you are not familiar with the painting, it is of a young woman, reclining on a sofa in the nude. She is staring out with a straight forward look at the viewer. In the background shadow is a maid presenting a bouquet of flowers.
As I lingered there looking at the painting, I focused on the bouquet in the background and realized that it was through the inclusion of the bouquet that Manet tells a much fuller story; that of the relationship between Olympia and the man that we cannot see but who had thought enough of Olympia to bring her the magnificent bouquet.
I kept thinking of that painting and it seemed very relevant today….it reminded me that too often the stories that are told and discussed are of the shocking or sensational and that we need to spend more time looking for the less obvious information that completes the story and is often lost in everyday noise.
So for my latest series, Bouquet, I wanted to bring the bouquet to the forefront as my reminder to myself to pay greater attention getting the fuller more complete story.
I am not finished making bouquets but I already have a few new ideas that I am rolling around and want to explore next.
Sections