Open gallery
The work presented in the exhibition An Unquiet and Uncanny Earth springs from my appreciation of the visual beauty and physical processes that can be found in the natural world. From the emerald green of sunlight shining through untrodden grass to the knowledge that the tearing of the Earth’s crust millions of years ago led to humanity as we know it today, my work is rooted in an appreciation of the Earth. With each piece, whether sculptural or functional, I try to capture some fraction of the Romantic sublime. But in doing so, I want the voice of materials to be just as present as my own because even though nature has no tongue, it can speak for itself with more eloquence than man ever could.
My interest in craft media and materiality stems directly from this desire. Clay and glaze are more than vehicles of meaning interposed between the viewer and the concept. They function as extensions of the human and non-human worlds. They’re intended to be experienced on the visual, tangible, emotional, and personal levels; the cracks of the clay, the crystals in the glaze, and all the other phenomenological effects are meant to evoke responses akin to those inspired by nature itself. Through materiality, the signifier and the signified become one; the sign collapses in on itself, and the effect of material experience is left in its wake. Through these experiences, I hope my work generates questions, suggests conclusions, and sparks conversations that lead viewers to a similar understanding, if not appreciation, of nature as that which inspires my work.