6 days

The beginnings of "Vessel Cult" thrown by GMD

"Vessel Cult #17" styled by UNA Floral.
"Vessel Cult" is an ongoing collaboration with Amanda Valdez and Future Retrieval, a back and forth of shape and surface, and a desire to respond to one another's aesthetic. During 6 days of non-stop studio mania here in Cincinnati, we continued where we left off at Watershed, experimenting with surface while pushing form and texture. More photos to come...

one more

One more piece from our collaboration with painter Amanda Valdez, made at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts. Amanda is heading our way soon and Mike has been throwing pots like back when he used to throw pots all day. Can't wait.

joshua tree - cut paper scenic

This is the first piece in a series of wall mounted cut paper scenics that GMD and myself are working on. These arcs will be ultimately become backdrops for porcelain objects that fit within the scene - still figuring that part out.

watershed collaboration

For the past two weeks I have been working at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts with some of my favorite artists and friends of all time. Mike and I organized a session titled Nothing You've Ever Done Before, and did exactly that. Above is an image of vases made in collaboration with painter Amanda Valdez, and we are stoked to see where this can go. Big plans are currently in the works so fingers crossed we can keep making new work together.

from life

A new cut paper backdrop I have been working on the past few months, trying to see if I can assign colors to a photograph in a similar way I work with wallpaper. The image is one we took at Joshua Tree in CA a couple summers ago, altered and combined with futurist architecture from Lequeu. This piece is a trial run for a couple ideas that are floating around, excited to get this up on the wall and keep going.

gold leaf and the moon

A mashup of a couple different projects currently in the works - finally starting to get some solid days in the studio again. I am on sabbatical for the next year so here's hoping everyday forward feels like summer.

flower sprigs

GMD has been working on some new forms in the studio, so of course I decided to take one* and completely obliterate it with flowers. Still working out a base for this to sit on, but excited about doing anything slow and tedious these days.
*as many as I can get my hands on

21c durham

A few images from our permanent installation "White Light" at 21C Durham, in North Carolina. Porcelain, paper, and neon chandeliers hang in clusters above The Counting House bar and the main space restaurant space on the first floor. Cutting all of this paper was no joke - I worked with 3 assistants (former and current students Christy Wittmer, Julia Sebastian, and Taylor Carter) for almost 6 months and we figured out there are more than 30,000 die cut flowers here. Insane. 

going sci-fi

Images of our installation at Clay Street Press, "An Epic Drama of Adventure and Exploration". For the first time I am experimenting with neon colors other than white, which gives the work an eerie quality that is really exciting right now.

grand theft: benjamin franklin

Grand Theft, Benjamin Franklin
cut paper, porcelain and wood
53" x 26" x 7"
2015

more bits

A couple more studio shots of pieces in progress - (another) cut paper oval, and melty Ben Franklin with yellow china paint and gold leaf. 

bits

Currently in the studio we are working towards 4 group shows that open in the next month... which means a lot of smaller one-offs with more details. 

backdrop

I am currently working on taking process photographs and turning them in wallpaper for new backdrops. This is just a start, but I love how the studio floor and cropped out bits start to make patterns within the larger image.

shipping out

Currently we are finishing up two different installations - one in Ann Arbor, MI, the other in Durham, NC. I will post pictures once everything is set up and lit, but wanted to show a couple work in progress images before everything disappears. 

landscape rat

We are finally getting around to photographing work made over the past year, and here is one of my favorite pieces - yet to be seen.

Feeder Rat, Landscape

10" x 12" x 7", made in Jingdezhen

porcelain and colored slip