As a ceramist, I explore the human form through both wheel-thrown works and sculptural methods. A lot of my pieces are linked to some sort of sentimentality, as the imagery on the pieces is based on those specific tattoos. 

As someone who has many sentimental tattoos was important for me to convey that message to others who might associate them with negative connotations. For my sculptural pieces, my focus is on tattooing, but mainly sentimental pieces, as those can pull at the heart the most. To achieve this with clay, I have been working with inlay techniques as which allows for me to put the colorant in the clay. This allows for the underglaze/slip to become one with the clay, just like how tattoo ink becomes one with the skin. The specific body parts that I construct are not a random choice. I am constructing the forms to be the exact placement of where my model has their tattoo at. I do this because even if I do not know the actual reason as to why the person chose that spot, there might be a connection to the tattoo itself.

In my functional work, I also work with the inlay process as it is more practice. In contrast to my sculptural pieces, my functional ware is made with a general idea of what I want to create instead of super-specific detail. I like to think that the clay tells me what it wants to be, and I help guide it to be more specific. My functional pieces are where I feel I get a little selfish, as I like the feeling that when someone buys my pieces that they are going to use these pieces just about every day. I take into consideration how things (like mugs, bowls, etc.) would feel in the user’s hand(s).