TennesseeWayne State UniversityUniversity of Notre Dame My present work developed from an instant fascination with the medium of clay, and my earliest academic intentions were to master traditional, functional forms and techniques. In short time the lure of “what if I…?” quickly replaced the goal of conformity. Tradition became tools as I experimented in form, figure, other materials or found objects, including glass, altered canvases, metal screen and handmade paper. I always work in series – challenging myself to develop, expand reimagine my former works with a different perspective on material and form. I never repeat a work, but may revisit them or what inspired them over time with new vision. A new series often begins from a photograph of a place I walked – an empty alley in a rural neighborhood with worn wood structures in my hometown, a crumbling and peeling façade in a city block in Detroit, vivid layers of text scribbled to claim a space in New York, a historic building still in use on ancient land in Sicily or Scotland, shored up by whatever was at hand.… all of those were the inspiration for the works in this exhibit, Alleys and Artifacts. Each completed work inspires the next to be different: softer, or bolder, or challenges me in the making. Usually, a series comes to an end after about 8 – 10 works. I keep the finished works in view around me until I feel I have addressed what I wanted to say, or the story I wanted to tell.