Audax 8

My work draws people into a playful, colourful narrative. Since childhood, I have always been drawn to colour and colouring books, and this feeling is reflected in my work now. My greatest source of inspiration for the motifs I use to decorate my work comes from Iznik ceramics made in Turkey from the 15th to the 17th centuries. Iznik motifs are fascinating to me due to their inclusion of fun and goofy animal motifs, characters that remind me of the old colouring books I loved from my childhood. Using coil building as an intuitive making process, I am continually exploring the potential of the vessel as a format. I am making pieces that represent me: a collection of dynamic colour, lovable characters, and curious forms.

Chatty Forest, 2021

In my work, I take a path in search of my inner being. Self-knowledge is a fundamental aspect of my path as an artist. With the help of clay, the use of different materials, and composition, I am building a bridge between beliefs, thoughts, and experiences. With my sculptures, I materialize a new form from the use of components that by themselves would not have a meaning. After reconstructing them, they become something of their own. Through these sculptural alterations, I hope to suggest that although our perspectives may be the same there is always space for the unidentified. With this, we can open a conversation about our own assumptions, and initiate dialogues that we would not have otherwise.

Hold Me, 2021

My love of the kitchen awakened my appreciation of clay. Cooking and ceramics share a common heritage. They evolved together through preparation, serving, and sharing, influenced by culture, family, and tradition. Many elements of Michigan, Ontario, and Malta inspire my work, from the colours of their landscape and seasons, to their agricultural practices, gastronomy, and cuisine. I believe in the importance of surrounding oneself with objects that nurture and promote beauty and reflection. My work celebrates the traditions and the generous heart of kitchens, the table, and the breaking of bread. Through my work, I hope to expand the philosophy of farm-to-table to become, farm, studio, and table, confirming that the makers, growers, and community are all part of one movement. 

Siesta Time (after RGM), 2020-2021

My work invites the viewer into its quiet presence. I aim for a sense of minimalist design. I achieve the quietest forms through slip casting, a process that requires time and patience. My pieces are cast exceptionally thin and light, using porcelain to emphasize a feeling of intense fragility. I seek to develop work that speaks both as a single form and in a group setting. I highlight the porcelain through subtle glazes, achieving a sense of elegant, clean silhouettes when multiple pieces unite. Through elegant forms, subtle surfaces, and fine construction, I create a peaceful, meditative experience that can slow down time in our fast-paced existence.

The Aromatherapy Collection 1, 2021

This body of work takes a critical view of social and cultural issues. Using 18th-century porcelain garnitures as a point of departure, this work speaks of exclusion, alienation, isolation, and loneliness by subverting form and material and subjecting the pieces to contamination. Given the aristocratic connotations of the historical objects, they become a perfect foil to explore the current state of inequality in our current society. At times taking the form of a memorial to a pot or a limp and dejected body, exhausted and collapsed, my pieces move beyond classical garnitures. By combining traditional and non-traditional ceramic treatments, they become silly, vulgar, humorous and introspective: a visual diary of our current time.

At Least we Have NetFlix, 2021

Heightened feelings of vulnerability and fear inspire my work. I explore the ideas of growth in nature, colour as a metaphor for emotions, and how I can express deeper, more personal feelings visually. In this body of work, I dig deeply into my own experience, exploring forms that can express the conflicting sides of a person. Like most people, I am constantly changing. I express facets of my personality as a range of colours, fading, brightening, crystalizing, and persisting. Pushing against the boundaries of clay and taking risks within the process mirrors moments when I had to push myself to stay strong when I felt like crumbling. The transformative nature of contemplating this tension within myself ultimately allows me to grow.  

Bloom, 2021

I want my work to have a voice. Clay tells the story of how this hard, fired material was once soft. My work focuses on quickly made, deeply textured gestural forms. I intentionally leave pieces of trimmings, rough edges, and the evidence of construction. I preserve the memory of the once soft squishy clay; I leave behind the trace of my hand. All of my pots are fired in atmospheric kilns using wood, salt, and soda. Giving up control of the firing by firing in atmospheric kilns expands the potential of the surface of my work; it requires patience, and it is labour-intensive. I put so much time and effort into the making of my pots, why not have that same effort put into my firing?

Teapot with Stand, 2021