I began working in ceramics in 1980 at Clay Dragon in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. After a short time there, Anne Smith and I moved to our own studio in Somerville, MA, and continued to work there for the following eight years. During that time I was working figuratively, specifically on a long series of self-portrait busts inspired by French 19th century sculpture. Eventually the self-portraits gave way to an exploration of the character of Eve as a kind of everywoman, and the work changed scale to a “figurine” approach. At the time there was an infatuation with teapots in the ceramic world, and I responded with tongue in cheek in a series of eccentric woman teapots. This extended body of ceramic work came to an end when I moved to South Dartmouth, MA.
Perhaps a decade or more ago, I fell in love with Chinese Scholar Objects. The scholar objects depend on a “found” object that appears to distill the form taken by the movement of energy in nature. Though I loved them, I felt at the time that it would be impossible for me to come up with an authentic way for me to approach that material in my own work. Still, the desire was there, and eventually I began to find a way into it. My current ceramic work represents an on-going exploration of that passion.
The porcelain fish are an off-shoot of “Migration”, bringing that body of work back to the discrete gallery object.