I like to create relationships with my pottery, building my own personal relationship with the materials I use.

The process of making becomes just as important to me as the final product, like falling in love with a song I am dancing to.  The choreography becomes muscle memory and with every direction I go in, the clay follows.  The piece is fired to bisque and the fun continues in the final firing.
My favorite firing methods are atmospheric firings where I lose my control of the relationship; my form is completed the way I want, but I release it to the mercy of the kiln.  In addition to making, another process I enjoy happens through these firings.  For soda firings, I'm listening to the kiln, rekindling the intimacy of the relationship: feeding it air or gas, adjusting the damper, and watching cones slowly fall.  Once it hits desired temperature, I open a porthole and spray in a soda ash and water mixture.  The flames kick up and the atmosphere of the kiln is disturbed.  For wood firings, it typically takes a team to load and fire (depending on kiln size).  We monitor the kiln temperature and add wood to the kiln, in an area called the fire box, to increase the temperature of the kiln in a timely manner.  There is a sense of urgency in this process that I get a rush from.  Stoke the fire, kick up the ash, stoke again, check the temperature, stoke the fire... It all seems like an endless cycle until we hit desired temperature and seal the kiln by bricking it closed.  Soda and wood firings create natural flashing effects on the ceramic work.  Pots can come out having "toasty" reds and browns where the piece is left unglazed or have very glossy, runny areas where the ash in the kiln landed on the pot and increased the flow of glazed areas.

When my pieces are complete and ready for use, I release them for the last time.  I let them go to prosper as a tool aiding their new owners... A mug becomes a brave warrior that delivers coffee to the mouth of the grumpy person who hates early mornings.  A bowl becomes the brightest part of a kid's day when it's holding freshly scooped spheres of ice cream.  A vase stands proudly at attention, holding a gift of flowers a friend uses to show their love.

Every functional piece I have a hand in making evolves my relationships and extends my reach of being able to help others.

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-2017