Artist Statement

Growing up in Minnesota where, via the influences of the many local potters, the climate for making pottery had a distinctly Japanese folk pottery or mingei air to it, I began my work in high school making Japanese/folk inspired functional pots, and As the years progressed my work turned to non-functional, and then to purely sculptural concerns until my first trip to Japan in 1987 when the circle began to close. My residency there lasted from 1988 to 1996, and during that time I came to realize how deeply ceramics were embedded in the culture via the tea ceremony, flower arranging, the various styles of regional cooking, etc. with my interest in making wares for the tea ceremony, my attention has turned to Korean influenced work, specifically Hagi as well as buncheong style ware, and While referencing these types of work, I seek to expand on the vernacular via my own process of form and glaze experimentation, continually altering glazes and intentionally over and under firing work in an effort to see what the kiln may provide.

Additionally of late, I have created a number of bodies of work which speak to contemporary as well as universal themes such as ones mortality, various emotional states, and the devolution of social norms as referenced by the helmet series, and the hurt box, and heart series.

Educational Background

BFA - Summa cum Laude - University of Minnesota
MFA - University of Washington

Exhibitions/representation

Selected exhibitions include the William Traver Gallery - Seattle, the Urasenke Foundation - Seattle, the Parsons School of Design - New York City, The Otis Art Institute – Los Angeles, The Ichikawa Prefectural Musuem of Art – Kanazawa Japan, The International Tableware Festival – Tokyo, The Kintetsu/Matsushita Gallery in Takamatsu Japan, The Art Complex Museum – Boston, The Crocker Museum – Sacramento, Daitokuji – Kyoto Japan, Sanwado Gallery - Tokyo, The international teabowl festival, - mungeong Korea, Cavin-Morris Gallery - New York, The stratford gallery - stratford england, The nevica Project - Chicago, Lacoste/Keane gallery - Boston, and the anthony schaller gallery - St. Joseph MI

Gallery representation includes Cavin Morris Gallery – New York, Utsuwakan – Kyoto Japan, Sanwado – Tokyo Japan, The nevica project - Chicago THe stratford gallery - stratford upon avon england and the Anthony Schaller Gallery - St. Joseph MI.