What It Means To Be Of Use

I’ve been an artist most of my life and I’ve always struggled with the idea of creating in a world overrun with cheap trends, universal commodification, and rampant consumerism. My aversion to creating something without a useful application, just an aesthetic one, sometimes kept me from producing any art at all. Part of my attraction to ceramics was the possibility to combine aesthetic appeal and utility into a piece of usable art. Creating with clay gives me the opportunity to share my artistic vision through useful and beautiful objects, ultimately elevating everyday tasks with presence. My personal style has evolved from a preoccupation with fossils, archaeology, and anthropology because I’ve always been fascinated by the stories that artifacts tell. I envy how some ancient cultures ascribed so much importance to the objects they used in their everyday lives. Without electricity and technology, the creation of these objects was a much longer, more labor-intensive journey. Things were made to last a long time and they were made with intention. The objects of one’s life held more stories and value because there was not a surplus of them. I want that same reverence in my own life with the objects that I use. I want to know they were made by someone whose heart beats just like mine and who has similar hopes, loves, and fears. I want that grounding and connection in my everyday life. As I work in clay, I aim to transform the mundane into rituals that honor what it means to be a human on this Earth through my celebration of the raw material and the simple beauty of utility.