Education
East Carolina University, Greenville, NC
1970 - B.F.A Art

    Major: Ceramics/Minor: Painting

1970-1972
    Graduate Studies / Teaching Fellowship

Professional Associations

American Craft Association

Southern Highlands Craft Guild

Carolina Designer Craftsmen

Piedmont Craftsmen

Artist’s Statement

The creative impulse is made up of curiosity and desire. It’s manifestation in clay is defined as

the process of exploration and refinement. Working both these processes leads to creative

evolution - the essence of which is spiritual in nature.

The Vessels

My pots are wheel thrown, burnished, and coated with terra sigillata. After bisque firing, patterns and images are created with wax resist. The pots then go through a two stage firing process:

the first is a low temperature salt firing; the second a sawdust firing. Both firings produce random chaotic markings on the surface of each pot. The wax resist separates the effects caused by each process into distinct areas giving definition to the patterns without losing the vitality of chaos.

The patterns are like songs, each pot, a live performance. The songs are about the mystery and

magic of the paradox, the great void and the creative impulse and the membrane of imagination. My subject matter is not of this world but rather where and how it’s created.

To Seel

There is a way of looking at things where you can see and feel at the same time.  This I call “Seel”.  It is also a way of thinking where ideas are not arranged in levels, but three dimensionally in space.  The function of the pots is an invitation to Seel.

The Creative Impulse

The creative impulse is made up of curiosity and desire. It’s manifestation in clay is defined as

the process of exploration and refinement. Working both these processes leads to creative

evolution the essence of which is spiritual in nature.

My body is like a hand - the head being the thumb, reaching into the swirling energy surrounding me. Grabbing and holding onto a time and place I’ve created to do this thing with clay.  A simple thing really - create a feeling.  When you touch a pot, it touches you back.

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The Unity

UNITY APPLIED

Unity is fun as an idea. I like playing with ideas and symbols. I write them down, juxtapose, invert,  and let my subconscious have them for a while to see what kind of changes it offers.

Unity is a great generator of ideas. If I start pondering it, it takes off like a mantra with a mission. When Unity is applied to the pots, it’s no longer fun and games. Unity represents the entirety of the pots - process and product. It has nothing to do with the the business or the world that the pots are going into. It’s this thing I see and feel at the same time - a living template the pots are created within. Unity, I say, I’m only human.  Give me the tools, give me the skills, give me the brain cells, and while you’re at it, could I have my Muse back?  Unity says “you created the Paradox, made a void in the Void, developed a process unknown. You’ve got the time and you’ve got the focus, now don’t ask me for any hocus pocus”.

UNITY AND UNION

The Paradox is driven by creative Impulse and Intuition. These opposites have been reconciled as a Unity that is expressed in all aspects of the pots. Unity is a powerful idea with a presence and a voice. Union is a concept with a brilliance all it’s own. Within every Unity, there’s a Union somewhere. In the pots, it’s the relationship of the inside and outside shape. More specifically, the inside and outside surface should be a Union, that is, the Same. The shape is projected as an idea from the outside, then created from the inside of the pot, then the outside is trimmed to match the inside shape. In a Union, one+one=One. In a Unity, one+one=Three. Added together is Four, the totality of the pot and the link into the mysteries of life symbolized by a simple vessel made of clay.

UNITY AND THE ELIPSE

The symbol for Unity is the Ellipse. It’s also the symbol of the Void (which should not be mistaken for the Abyss). The Ellipse has 2 pivot points, compared to the circle, which has 1. These 2 points are in constant motion, away from and towards each other. As they move closer, the Ellipse becomes larger and more circular. As they move away from each other, the ellipse becomes smaller and more elliptical until it becomes almost a line. It is a primary symbol like the circle, square and the triangle - but more dynamic.

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