ARTIST'S STATEMENT

My mother is a talented artist and as I was growing up, watching her draw taught me to see. At 16, I accompanied her to Arizona to help with an art exhibition. I was fascinated by the desert flora, a great contrast to the verdant landscape of our home in Tennessee. This trip influenced my decision to attend Arizona State University, where I entered as a business major. Later in my studies, I took a ceramics class as an elective and became obsessed by the art form. I changed my major and spent most of my time in the studio. Kurt Weiser, a ceramics professor at ASU, showed an interest in my work and I quickly responded to his talent and knowledge. He created many opportunities for me, including an internship in a Thai village where ceramics are produced. He continues to be an important ally for my artistic endeavors.

After exploring more dependable careers, I was hired by a local design firm as a detail artist on a team creating sculpture for Princess Cruises. I traveled to Italy, where my embryonic interest in classical sculpture matured. These experiences, along with a consultancy on a public art memorial dedicated to Frank Lloyd Wright and A.J. Chandler, introduced me to figurative sculpture. I began coiling large organic forms, often changing their size and refining their shape, until one day a small figure was in front of me. Drawing on my appreciation for classical sculpture, especially the ancient, broken figures, I removed the head and liked what I saw.

As I was researching different approaches to surface design, I recalled that years before, while shopping at an antique mall, I had purchased, for 50 cents, a basket filled with vials of china paints. I began experimenting with the paints, and a National Geographic photo of a puffer fish inspired me to paint an abstract version of it. I was pleased with the results but more so with the possibilities: The porcelain figure became a canvas and the surface a visual diary. My surrealistic paintings on classical forms are a by-product of my life. They come from dreams, relationships and everyday encounters.

For six years, I have been refining my technique and resolving technical issues. Now that many of the challenges have been overcome, I have two established series and am beginning a third. My primary focus has been female torsos, but I also work with figurative teapots and am expanding my vocabulary with figures of conjoined twins. In addition to the physical human form, behavior and psychology also fascinate me. This is evident in the paintings I put on my pieces: detailed, painstakingly rendered images that have broader meanings. I want viewers to notice the elegance of the sculptural form as well as the complex relationship between the form and the painting.