My work is an exploration of the abundant magic and delight that I find in being alive. I can think of nothing more sublime, yet ridiculous, than experiencing the great blessing of being human in this infinite universe. I celebrate this phenomenon by creating my own little world in clay and paint. I invite you to share my enchantment and hope that you laugh your ass off.

For those of you interested in the process, it goes like this: 

I spend a lot of time alone and have learned over the years that happiness is a practice.  Our minds will wander in the direction that we point them in and so I look for things to appreciate. All those things that I don’t appreciate are just as great, because now they can become the butt of a joke. I imagine how I can phrase and illustrate these thoughts, and of course, if it might be appropriate for one of the characters to be wearing a super cute outfit.

I hand sculpt from a mid -fire stoneware, a hollow face, a figure, or build something quite large with coils of clay stacked one on top each other. Small figures are created with hollow legs so that I may insert a steel wire in the sculptures and allow them to stand up on their chubby little clay feet when they are complete. Once I’m happy with the sculpture, I allow it t to dry for several days. 

Bone dry sculptures are fired twice in an electric kiln and then I bring them to life with acrylic paints and glazes. I will occasionally add a little gold or silver luster which requires an extra firing. Flowers, feathers, braids and the like are created separately and are assembled post firing to ensure that they do not break. I frequently add antique fabrics and found objects as well.

The wood panels that the mini figures are installed in are built by husband.  A long boring process then ensues to prepare them to be textured with joint compound before finally being painted using multiple layers of acrylics and glazes.

A small tile is hand cut from a slab of clay and the title is transferred from a Xerox toner transfer that needs to be retrieved from the copy machine before it goes through the heat rollers. This tile is also fired in the kiln and is bonded to the front of the panel with an epoxy and copper wire.

Holes are drilled into the base board of the niche in the panel, and the wires that are now inside the legs of the figures are slid in these holes and bonded so they can never fall down (even if they do have more than two martinis). Sitting figures are also hollow and are bonded to the panel with a wood screw.

“How do you ship these things?”

Carefully. Through a lot of trial and (thankfully not too much) error, we’ve learned the best way to ship my work is to overpack the hell out of it. We isolate the figures with pieces of foam to fill every inch of the niche and leave no room to wiggle. We then wrap the entire piece in bubble wrap and add cardboard corners to absorb some of the blow in case the box gets dropped or bumped. The piece is then loaded into a box with styrofoam peanuts for a safe and cozy journey. I am sorry for the styrofoam; we tried using the biodegradable peanuts but the chipmunks that invade my studio every winter wouldn’t stop eating them.