Artist’s Statement

My ceramic work focuses on restoring to the human experience of death its contemplative dimension.  Anthropologically, funeral containers and sculpture reflect rich symbolic meaning and artistic tradition.  My pieces question the contemporary Western aversion to and discomfort in the face of death in order to open new avenues of perception around the human dignity of the person in this most vulnerable condition.  I believe our common humanity is found in befriending grief and death. 

My work is expressed through simple, classic forms of urns and other funerary vessels.  Since my artist’s residency at the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver BC, I have become inspired by ancient Asian urns, Neolithic ossuaries.  I approach indigenous traditions of funeral art in dialogue with my own colonialist ancestry.  I am also influenced by the profound reflection of contemporary ceramic artist Julian Stair in his exhibition Quietus: The Vessel, Death and the Human Body.

Creating forms expressive in their simplicity engages my matièriste approach to the ceramic medium.  I use superimpositions of texture and calligraphic gesture, from which patinas emerge reminiscent of ancient works.  I am developing a mastery of a variety of materials for multilayered surfaces and conceptual meaning.

Working with clay demands coherence between the body and the spirit of the artist.  Centring and throwing clay is itself a contemplative activity and an essential spiritual practice.  Building sculptures using the ancient coil method and hand tools connects me with artists throughout history.

Ceramic art allows for a return to symbolic sources.   Pottery is charged with the human symbolism of containment, from the humble bowl for food, through to the urn, in which our ashes will come to rest.  My work witnesses to life, at once tenacious and fragile, spiritual and mortal.  My funeral pieces address death in a humanizing way.  They encourage a contemplative state in the beholder, and allow a deeper acceptance of our own mortality to take root.