For artists there is no such thing as progress.
It's only a deepening.
—Isamu Noguchi

My experience in clay is idiosyncratic. From day one my training has been in Japanese methods, beginning with my experience at a small Japanese pottery studio in Manhattan in 1992 and culminating in the completion of a 4½ year apprenticeship in Karatsu, Japan in 1999 and my return to the US. I work in a certain way drawing from a repertoire of traditional skills.

But in my work, there is another strong force which I think of as a kind of ‘un-learning.’ My urge to create pushes me to find something I can bring to the centuries of traditional skills that precede me, something spontaneous, relevant, and current. Through my training I learned a vocabulary in clay, and through my work now I communicate using this vocabulary.

Central to my work are the integrity and beauty of the materials, and the firing, which is done primarily with wood using age-old techniques in a kiln I built myself in 2001. The intensive wood-firing experience enhances the depth of the glaze colors as well as the color of the clay bodies.

Simplicity, stillness, visual rhythm and the dynamic between pieces are important elements in my designs. My work, whether functional or sculptural, is meant to heighten our awareness during everyday moments, - moments that while repeated over and over throughout one’s lifetime, are nonetheless never duplicated.

I work in the Karatsu tradition, which for centuries has emphasized wheel-throwing techniques through repetition to create a paradoxically spontaneous and relaxed style.