Artist Statement: An EXERCISE In exploration
As of now, all of the work I've made has been an exercise in exploration. It is largely a journey dedicated to the pursuit of technical challenges, focused on skill development and pushing my understanding of what clay is capable of further. Throughout this process, I'm studying a number of techniques, forms, claybodies, and glazes. Taking inspiration from various artists, I find myself drawn to art that makes me ask myself, "How the hell did they do that," so I can find out for myself.
In my search for technical challenges on the potter's wheel, I looked to my greatest ceramic inspiration, George E. Ohr. In his lifetime, Ohr was known for making unique vessels with delicate ruffles and folds in the middle of his pots, and these ruffles slowly conumend my every thought. It was an itch in my brain that wouldn't go away until I learned how he did it. After days of mulling it over, I finally cracked it and I immediately began to implement the new skill into my work. These ruffles and folds aren't an expression of self quite yet, but in time they will be.
Being 22 years old, I'm still unestablished as a person, as well as an artist. Rather than working to find my signature form or signature style as an artist, I have insead chosen to focus on gathering the tools and techniques that I'll need to create work that is as expressive as it is technically baffling. Until then, my exercise in exploration continues.