Larkspur Party

I am an artist native to the Carolinas, working as a painter since 1990, and most recently as a sculptor and potter. I’ve always been happiest when expanding my own boundaries, regularly exploring various methods of art-making.  This exploration of styles, materials, technique, and design enriches my work in every medium. Ceramic art is among the oldest of human art forms, and while I approach ceramics with my own personal preferences, I like the primitively intimate connection to the countless anonymous humans that have held their own wares, warm from the kiln. Much of the work I produce is inspired by a sober dignity, a feeling of honoring the humble, and this frequently leads me to create objects that either seem old and worn, or perhaps formed by the beautiful sloppiness of natural processes. I strive to make work that is refined, but not glamorous, and noble, but not proud. In a practical sense, this means I’m most fond of terra sig, slips, and stains, rather than glassy glazes, and I use these to enhance somewhat organic textures that I’ve made on the surfaces. I also feel that good design is imperative, but I am increasingly trying to balance intention with happenstance and casual coincidence.

As a teen, I was selected to attend the S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts, where I graduated from the visual arts program. I then studied visual art (88-90) at the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts, and also learned about music, dance, theater, and writing. Since 2009, I have been a regular ceramic student at Claymakers, and have assisted in the daily studio functions at Claymakers, learning about the ancillary technical aspects of ceramic art.

I began teaching ceramics in 2011 with solo students, and have taught this year (2012) as a guest teacher at the Triangle Potters’ Guild in Raleigh, NC, as a guest teacher at Central Carolina Community College in Siler City, NC, and as a course teacher at Claymakers in Durham, NC.

My artwork has been featured in 51 professional exhibitions since 1998, in a variety of juried and invitational venues. From 1998 through 2004, I was one of the resident artists at Vista Studios & Gallery 80808 in Columbia, SC, coordinating many of the exhibits there. At the same time, I was represented by a local independent retail gallery, Elemental Artworks. I was also an invited member of the Osmosis Painters Group, an exclusive artists’ alliance with critically-acclaimed exhibitions. I served as the President/Vice President of the About Face Figure and Portrait Study Group from 1999-2001. Working with the Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties, I won sponsorship to create public sculptures for two group exhibitions in 2000 and 2002. My artwork is in many private home collections, and in the collections of AT&T, and Continental American Insurance Group. My ceramic work has been featured in several recent shows at the Claymakers Gallery (2010-2012). In 2011 and 2012, I contributed to the Empty Bowls charity, an effort to relieve hunger with ceramic-focused fundraising events. My current studios are in my home in Durham, NC, and in the community studio, Claymakers, in downtown Durham, NC.

My other work has included graphic design, photo compositing, prototype sculpture, scale model building, etc., and I still occasionally accept commissions for diverse projects of these sorts.