Crafting Identity

ceramic and metal
2024

An ebullient, energetic soul, who brightens up my day.
Adriana is one of the overworked staff at PVCC, without whom I could not manage.

It takes a village, and Adriana, and her crew are viatlly important.

ceramic and metal
2024

Each encounter with Roy brightens my day. His diligence and hardwork always inspire. His perseverance is commendable despite his personal challenges.

He is always moving, planning his day cleaning, setting up chairs for a meeting, or tents outside for an event. He makes it happen at PVCC.

ceramic and metal
2024

For 25 years I have taught ceramics and art at Paradise Valley Community College.

Through the years we have created a studio space fostering creativity, community, and learning.

Effie continues to study ceramics while pursuing a career in psychology. Cermaics continues to be an important part of her life, providing an opportunity for personal expression beyond the possibilities of other creative outlets.

This portrait captures her spirit, spirituality, and intellect.

ceramic and metal
2024

For 25 years I have taught ceramics and art at Paradise Valley Community College.

Through the years we have created a studio space fostering creativity, community, and learning.

Although my role was arts professor, there was a mutual exchange of knowlege and sharing between the students and myself. I witnessed their transformation through these classes.

Laura was a student of mine at MCC in 1992. 30 years later she signed up for my class at PVCC to coninue her ceramic journey.

ceramic and metal
2024

One of the hard working crew who clean the ceramic studio. Maggie is always smiling and waving to me, and making my day.

I couldn’t do what I do without her energy and spirit. It takes a village and she is an important part.

Ceramic and Mirror
2008

As an instructor of drawing I was fortunate to work with exceptional models and delve further into figurative work as well as a creative expression about the human condition. This piece began as a drawing of a female figure that was compelling due to the complexity of the arms and legs in relation to the torso.

She is Not Who She Says She Is expresses the complexity of the inner self. The mirror on the face represents how we sometimes say what we think someone wants to hear. In doing so, we lose pieces of ourselves and become a reflection of others, or of what they want us to be.

Ceramic
1997

In 1976 I entered the graduate program at the University of North Texas. It was a time of artistic growth and expansive creative thinking.

Crystalline Reality was one of the first finished pieces from that time period. I used a glaze concocted by a fellow student who offered to fire my piece. Much to his chagrin, mine was the only one to show the crystals in the glaze.

ceramic
1982

After completing graduate school, I took a position at the Craft Alliance in Shreveport, LA as resident potter/artist. My days were spent teaching classes and making art. Small Painted Figure was produced as part of a body of work for an exhibition of my work at the Craft Alliance.

This unassuming piece was constructed by combining several thrown forms that had been altered from their original shape. After firing, the piece was painted and torched creating the weathered finish to the surface.

The broken head is open to personal meaning and metaphor. It is still a favorite piece despite its brokenness

Ceramic
1974

A treasured piece in my collection, Not a Self Portrait is the earliest pot I own. When I began making pottery in college, my father made a studio in the garage for the both of us. It was a rare time of shared creativity and connection. The pot was fired to cone 04 (1900 degrees), which essentially means it was underfired. Because of this, it has deteriorated over time and exposure to the elements.

ceramic
1995

Self portraits and teapots are two of my favorite forms of expression. So much of my work reflects a certain moment in my life or a period of time, family history, or cultural influences on my life. The teapot, in all its complexity, is the perfect vessel for personal reflection. Teapots have appeared in my work throughout my career.

Self Portrait as an Astronaut Teapot is one of a series of teapots depicting myself as one of my idols from childhood. As a young boy fascinated by the race to the moon, I was inspired and awed by the astronauts risking their lives to travel into space. Like so many youngsters my age, I wanted to be like them. The other teapots in this series were superheroes and cowboys.

Stoneware and Goatskin
2010

Around 2010 I became fascinated by adding sound to my sculptures and vessels. I explored the many different ways sound can be created in a ceramic piece. From being struck like a drum, blown into as a whistle, or strumming string. The idea of creating a sonic experience continues to inform my work and is most recently see in the series of ceramic wind bells I began making in the early 2020’s.

This figure was constructed by combining several thrown forms that had been altered from their original shape. Cholo, a figurative drum, has a goat skin head and a proud attitude.

Stoneware and Goatskin
2010

Around 2010 I became fascinated by adding sound to my sculptures and vessels. I explored the many different ways sound can be created in a ceramic piece. From being struck like a drum, blown into as a whistle, or strumming string. The idea of creating a sonic experience continues to inform my work and is most recently see in the series of ceramic wind bells I began making in the early 2020’s.

This figure was constructed by combining several thrown forms that had been altered from their original shape. Arizona Native, a figurative drum, has a goat skin head and has incorporated indigenous beliefs into his being.

Stoneware
1995

Family has been and continues to be an important part of my life. My father had a huge impact on my identify as a man, an artist, and parent. He was my earliest role model and someone who found joy through making.

porcelain
1997

My parents, my two brothers and myself, dressed up. We were a casual family, dressing up for church, or special occasions. These events are held as cherished memories in my mind and heart.

I created a series of sculptural vessels that represent the special relationship within a family – my family. The vessels holds all the secrets that only the family knows.

Ceramic
1996

A close knit group of people, like a family, shares stories no one else knows. This pot is adorned with the faces of my family. We all wear glasses. We share a uniquee vision of the world through the lens of our shared experiences, DNA, and heritage.

This pot overflows with family stories, myths, experiences, tears, laughter, and connection. I am grateful for the family I was born into and how the experience shaped my life.

My family is of such importance for me that I have revisited the theme over and over throughout the decades.

Ceramic
2016

I was fortunate to visit Cuba in 2016 and was inspired by Cuban art and artists who took dangerous positions in their country. Dissidents were jailed for opposing the government, yet so much of the art spoke out against the government.

As I look back at this piece, it expresses my feelings about our government, specifically our president, and how he enthralls his supporters with lies and false statements.

Ceramic
2010

Inspired after my trip to Cuba. I was thinking about the concept of independence and collective and how different those two constraints felt when I was in Cuba and in the United States.

Moving Toward the Light depicts a group of figures constructed from individually thrown forms to create a mass. They are first seen as the whole and then as individuals.

Ceramic and Metal
2018

Bosnian architecture is a mixture of Ottoman, Austrian-Hungarian and Soviet styles. Each style is an expression of a point of view about how people should live, and how they should relate to each other. Architecture from the past provides a different perspective on space, materials, and culture. The use of different materials makes us think about structure in new ways, as well as new ways of thinking about how our bodies may utilize that space.

Modeled after a house I saw in Sarajevo that struck me because of the proportions of height/width and the alignment of the door and the upper windows, along with the decorative roof overhang. The house was built two hundred years ago but is still occupied. It shows pockmark damage to the exterior, a reminder of the 90’s war, and of the lasting value of the past to live on despite the ravages of time and man’s inhumanity.
Welded steel frame covered with perforated sheet steel, then dipped in clay slip, fired in a kiln

Ceramic and Metal
2018

Goat Bridge was inspired by an actual bridge over the Miljacka River on the outskirts of Sarajevo built in the 16th century. According to a local legend the bridge was built by a shepherd boy named Mehmed. The bridge opened an important trading route to Sandzak, Macedonia and Istanbul and was frequented until the XIXth century. I was struck by the story and the impressive structure.

ceramic and metal
2018

An archway provides access for everyone who circumstance allows. Being in a place with inherent possibilities means one only has to step through to be transported from one existence to another. When we pass through an archway we are transformed by the change in space, perspective and time.

The combination of clay on metal provides a symbolic and physical representation of tension and balance. The shrinking clay grips the steel and makes it stronger where there is a balance of material thickness but makes it weaker where there is an imbalance. The shrinking clay cracks around the unyielding metal yet is made stronger by the steel’s ability to withstand high heat.

raku ceramic
1996

Made from a thrown and altered cylinder, Two As One expresses the dichotomy of being human. This is what it feels like to be torn between two (or more) viewpoints.

ceramic
1986

I was living in Sedona when I heard there was to be a firing of the anagama kiln at NAU, and Don Reitz was heading it up, and there was room for a few pieces if I was quick about it.

I made some pieces, but didn’t have time to bisque fire them, so Don placed them in the furthest part of the kiln from the fire box so they wouldn’t blow up. They survived the firing with flashing from the wood flame and with small quartz inclusions pushing up from inside. This only happens in a firing that lasts many days.

Stoneware
2018

I notice people’s hands and am acutely aware of my own. My hands are large and strong. They are my tools for my artistic expression and creativity. I manipulate clay with my hands and the tools I rely on become an extension of my hand.

My hands allow me to hold and touch, not just the art, but others. They are an extension of my brain and an interface for my understanding of the world.

Ceramic
2014

Horse with No Name was constructed by combining several thrown forms that had been altered from their original shape. The forms are graphic with enough information to be recognizable.

To keep the ‘earthiness’ of the piece dark slip was applied to the surface and then carved in what is known as sgraffito to allow some of the clay color to come through.

Vivikas’ Strawberry, Charlie D White and Mottled Orange
2020

So much of my work focuses on the formation of the piece, the clay body and often the function of the work, either purely aesthetic, functional, or even musical.

In this teapot, my focus was on the combination of glazes that when combined takes advantage of the lacy pattern of the Charlie D White streaming down the Vivika’s Strawberry.

Ceramic
circa 1992

I love throwing clay on the wheel. I love working very small and outrageously large. This piece represents the tallest I can make due to the constraints of my kiln.

Working this large means the vessel is made in smaller parts (cylinders) that are stacked together to achieve the height. In its simplest explanation, the piece is longer than the length of my arm and would therefore be impossible to make in one fluid motion.

Thrown and altered ceramic, this is the tallest piece I have ever made.