“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” Rumi
Art is one way to kneel and kiss the ground. For me it is also a response to a perceived need: memorializing a beloved person when the plaques, urns, and markers the cemetery offers just are not beautiful enough for this person, or for this beloved pet. Celebrating a stage in the life of a woman that offers itself to three dimensional expression, curves, roundness, waves: sculptures depicting a pregnant woman and a mother nursing her child. Manifesting stillness in meditation, feeling grounded and connected: the sculpture of the Western Buddha. Delighting in the embrace of loving arms, supporting and holding - my Couple.
The pieces will remind you of this moment, this time, this experience, this person, this pet - holding them with beauty and reverence.
All of them I either met in a dream or in a quiet moment away from the to-do- list frame of mind.
My focus is the sensory experience of smoothing clay and creating shapes. Clay is forgiving and with the additive technique I use there is no failure: you can start over and over again until it feels right. There is excitement in the process that starts with a lump of clay leading to a shape that feels alive and almost pulsing.
Considering the amount of detail in many of my pieces people comment on the vast amount of patience I seem to have: it is with curiosity, awe and sometimes surprise that I sit down to start and work towards the completion of a piece. It begins with an idea and I am guided by a strong sense of intuition that seems to live in my fingertips and my eyes for what feels alive and beautiful to me.