artist’s statement

My practice is an exploration in slowness. Paper-thin ceramic tiles shaped in the palm of my hand and organic sculptural forms carved with patience and persistence. These pieces undergo transformative rites of passage through pit-firing, a process steeped in unpredictability. The flames leave behind cracks and imperfections, which I see as opportunities for reinforcement resulting in sculptures that embody resilience and durability. My practice is based in non-verbal expression that is a dance between concerted planning and impassioned improvisation.

Through the three gallery shows and an artist talk I gave at Vanderbilt University this year, I have been trying to create spaces that allow people to pause, to feel, and to think. I am deeply excited by research—including migration patterns, wind currents, erratic boulders, cartography, and histories of immigration—and by finding patterns of connection in the physical world. My father’s family emigrated from Cuba when he was 13. My mother’s side of the family immigrated from Romania, Poland, and Russia in the early 1900’s due to religious persecution known as pogroms. This family history of movement developed into a marked interest in how humans (and animals at large) are migratory beings whose ancestries can be traced across oceans, often in winding, looping paths. The fluid forms of my coil-built sculptures and the patterns carved into their surfaces are representations of the steadfast ways that humans have shaped the world we move through and how the world has shaped us.