I am teaching a weeklong workshop August 22-26, 2016 at Truro Center for the Arts @CastleHill. It is open to any level. Color of fire.. Click here for more info.

CERAMIC PROCESS
I throw my ceramic bowls, jars, and vessels on the potters wheel using a fine white clay. I add woven clay coil inlays, trim and burnish each piece as it dries. When the pots are bone dry, I apply a fine liquid clay slip called terra sigillata made from the finest particles of clay. I polish the surface between painted coats until a waxy sheen is developed.

SAGGAR FIRE PROCESS
After an initial bisque firing, I take the work off to my saggar kiln on Cape Cod. I make clay vessels called saggars to fit each piece and to hold combistible materials against the pot. In them, I nest each piece in mineral soaked straw and sawdust. I fire these saggars in a gas kiln to about 1600°F. I vary the time, temperature and atmosphere of the kiln to produce a variety of effects.The result of painting with this palette of accidents is unpredictable and always new. With it I hope to echo the random beauty of nature on a form with the simple texture of a riverstone.

TERRA SIGILLATA
I use terra sigillata to get the sheen on the surface of my pots. Because clay particles are platelets, they line up when burnished. Terra sigillata particles are so fine that when they are rubbed they line up with the surface to give a sheen. The terra sigillata is made by mixing clay and water and a small amount of deflocculant together in a jar. The clay is allowed to settle out for 22 hours, then the finest particles are siphoned off to become the TS. I apply this silky liquid slip to the surface with a brush and then lightly polish with a cloth.


My firing process is influenced by Mexican and American Indian pit firing technique and Korean, Chinese and Japanese Bizen traditions. I am available to teach workshops. Please contact me for more info about a workshop in your area. Occasionally we will open our kiln site on Cape Cod for a workshop: " The Color of Fire" or a Brush Burn Season Pit Fire.

Email me to explore scheduling one for your group
or to be notified of upcoming workshops

BREADPOTS
I designed the BreadPot for baking no-knead bread because I needed one. It is made of stoneware clay fired in my downdraft gas kiln to 2350F

DIGITAL ART
When I first saw giclee prints from an IRIS printer I was inspired to learn the techniques to make images from my mixed media work. Before long, I found my way to working directly with objects on a scanner. These first experiments led to the series "Things I Grow" including a small book and large format prints of the garlic scapes that were unfolding in my garden. Next I scanned clay objects and combining them with images and other scanned objects to make the "Stones & Branches Series". This led to the "Toscanini" prints, and the mess of ice cream ingredients on the scanner. yum.
Current digital work is about the fluvial processes of geomorphology.