Artist
Statement
The clay figure form has been constant to my work for
ten years. It has served as a vehicle for carving and
layering painted narrative patterns. In many ways it
relates to a potter decorating and designing images
on a pot. I think of the American Indian potters of
Acoma Pueblo or the Hopi potters in their wrapping of
symbolic and narrative forms around traditional shapes.
My patterns are images and symbols that have reference
to places, situations or experiences in my life. I organize
the shapes in a floating composition that wrap each
figure form. They are somewhat enigmatic and visually
poetic. The images might refer to mountain landscapes
of the Western United States, where I spend my summers
or the tropical foliage and leaf forms of my Florida
residence. Other symbols such as the spiral (infinity
form), furrowed water forms, house shapes and stair
sections have been introduced and used to continue the
personal narrative and journal. They also become part
of the moving composition that wraps each figure. It
is a man and nature or man and experience reference.
American
Indian Art and Tribal Art of all cultures has always
held my interest. I appreciate these artists's skills
with material, their connection to nature and the spiritual,
their sense of design and narrative. I also enjoy the
work of contemporary artists whose work seems to reflect
tribal influences.
