Cooking is and has been an integral part of my life and it seems only natural that I am drawn to creating dinnerware sets and casserole dishes along with cake stands and bakers, all items that are centered on cooking and serving food.  We live in a society where the days of families spending the evening together talking over healthy, well-prepared, home cooked meals are disappearing, only to be replaced with fast-paced dinners bought on the go.  By creating pleasing and functional altered dinnerware, I hope to inspire people to slow down, examine and enjoy, while restoring, creating or simply embracing the bonds between family and friends during mealtime.

I am interested in making ceramic pieces that can go from fully functional in the kitchen to helping to create a beautiful table at mealtime.  Therefore, not only is the function of the piece important, but the visual aesthetic is something that I pay particular attention to.  The plasticity of clay and its intrinsic nature to be manipulated intrigues me.  I work to push the limits of the clay by stretching it from the inside, and then pushing areas back in from the outside to give it visual and tactile interest as well as a wider range of manipulation.  The way that the altered forms displace the liquid and food out of the round and into unique and individual shapes interests me in the same way that an instillation artist might be interested in forcing the viewer to move about a space in a particular fashion, causing them to be consciously aware of the situation and space that they are in.

The lyrical nature of the alterations is inspired by dancers and their gracefulness, as well as the flowing nature of the fabric of their costumes.  I look for my work to have a graceful and flowing presence as well as a cheerful manner to encourage the use of the piece to be fun and enjoyable.

To emphasize the altered forms, I work to develop glazes that break over hard lines and pool in the recesses, ideally in differing but complementing colors.  I particularly enjoy finding semi-matt or satin areas in those glazes that contrast the glossy surfaces making the piece, again, not only visually interesting but also tactilely enjoyable.  These ideas of making functional objects that are not only enjoyable to touch, hold and use but also hopefully inspire others to slow down and enjoy each others company is what drives me to make my work.