Washington, IL My primary interest is giving expression to interior realms both personal and universal. As an artist, I have always been drawn to, and I continuously draw upon, what is mystifying in life. My work examines the relationship between power and vulnerability, the comic and tragic, wonder and horror, the holy and corrupt. Working in an improvisational mode, I experience the creative process as an intimate conversation with my materials and the figures that emerge. I love the medium of clay because it is inherently sensual, responsive, and sometimes maddeningly unpredictable. The fluidity of the clay allows me to build and alter forms with great immediacy. With tools and sometimes simply my hands and fingers, I pound, scrape, cut, dig and gouge, searching for something I have never seen before. I build up and tear apart repeatedly, looking to be moved and transfixed. Once found, I stop, leaving intact the evidence of my struggle. As a child in kindergarten, I recall standing at my easel, painting with abandon, feeling a sense of exhilaration and ownership. In recent years, I have been striving to recapture that same freedom and unselfconsciousness by letting go of self-censorship and feeling the need to prettify. Increasingly, I am aiming for a more instinctual and authentic form of self-expression. Technical Description I use an unusual clay body containing sawdust and perlite. When dragged through the surface using a tool or scraper, these ingredients and the effects of their burnout in the firing, leave a highly textured surface. I like to work with a solid mass of wet clay initially, enabling me to build and explore many possibilities very rapidly. Once the figure is complete, I hollow out the form and allow the piece to dry before firing. I use commercial underglazes and overglazes, as well as ceramic stains to achieve a layering of color, not unlike intaglio printmaking. I fire my sculpture in reduction to stoneware temperature and frequently fire pieces multiple times to achieve desired color and surface effects.