hello world.

I’m a ceramic artist working in downtown Seattle. I’ve been working in ceramics since 2016, primarily working on the wheel, and almost exclusively focused on functional wares. My work lives in the fuzzy gray areas between art, craft, and design, and is meant to be used in day to day life. Its ultimate aim is to provide small moments of joy to the people who encounter them.

I’m obsessed with people’s emotional attachment to physical objects, and the reactions they can produce. The Nordic concept of hygge, Marie Kondos declaration that objects should ‘spark joy,’ and the concept of ‘glimmers’ are all ideas I try to embrace in my work. I try to instill pieces with elements that inspire an emotion or feeling: coziness, playfulness, mystery, and surprise. As one of my instructors once said, every piece should have a reason to exist beyond the strictly functional. That can be through an obvious design inspiration (like a teapot spout inspired by a pug’s nose), a puzzle to be solved (like an odd dent in a teacup that just happens to fit your thumb perfectly), or even a jump scare (like a fourth wall breaking greeting inside a jar lid).

My practice is squarely centered in the medium of ceramics and tries to celebrate the clay itself, rather than use it as a canvas. I rarely do illustrative or figurative work on my pieces, preferring to focus on the visuals of the piece, rather than visuals on the piece. The physical form of the piece is ideally its own decoration. Shapes sculpted into the form, textures of the material involved, and artifacts of the making process should form the basis of the piece’s visual message. In addition to the fundamental form of the piece, throwlines, ribmarks, facets, and coil applique all provide visual and textural interest in the final design, and allow for interesting glaze interactions in the final firing. In finishing my work, I prefer to use glazes that highlight those: glazes that break over sharp edges, oxides that pool, and particles that bloom in the kiln. Atmospheric firing effects like carbon trapping, flashing, and glaze buildup are also favorites of mine, though they are only sporadically available in my current practice.

Outside of ceramics, I’m a typical Seattle transplant in that I work in tech. I tend to keep my day job separate, but I do occasionally get a bee in my bonnet and indulge in the odd digital art project.