cut paper

Studio shots/work in progress images of a new cut paper piece for an upcoming show this summer with Denny Gallery. This is part of a larger installation, and one of the first works in response to my time at the Cooper Hewitt this spring. A mash up of a couple different wallpapers eventually combined with porcelain objects, this is where our ideas seem to heading.

photogrammetry at the Cooper Hewitt

The beginning of a much bigger project, but here is a start... currently obsessing over the Meissen Four Continents sculpted by Johann Friedrich Eberlein, ca. 1760.

space vases

An edition of 12 space(ey) vases with a mashup of scenery from old landscape paintings, space posters, and botanical drawings. I am definitely pulling inspiration from the Vessel Cult series we made with Amanda Valdez  in October and finally using glazes other than clear. Even the background in the piece above is pale celedon, so yeah - getting crazy over here.

part two

This is one of two "Double Dresdner Monkey" pieces made in Jingdezhen China this winter, my giant ode to The Music Lesson.  I am currently working on some display tactics... figuring out how to pull these out of the strict figurine world and make them a little more surreal. Mike and I just went to the Surrealist Sculpture show at the Hirshhorn last week in DC and I have been thinking about it ever since. SO good. 

The Music Lesson

A couple images of new work made in Jingdezhen China during a two month residency at The Pottery Workshop this Nov/Dec. It is now officially the year of the monkey (!) and I am finally using this form. This is also a giant nod to The Music Lesson, one of my favorite pieces from the figurine section at the MET in NYC. 

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

blue and white

A few of the cups that I made in Jingdezhen with transfer images from our fireplace project combined with blue and white painting. I am not sure what it is about cobalt painting, but it sucks me in every single time. It seems just fast enough to keep the lines loose  - but in a perfect and detailed way.

times two

Landscape Lithophane - Mirrored. 

jingdezhen lithophane

Currently working in Jingdezhen for the next couple of weeks with the finest porcelain in the world. I thought I would bring a "giant" lithophane, inspired by the cut paper work I was doing this summer. This is test #1 - and I already want to go bigger.

die cutting

All day and all night, for a permanent installation opening in Feb. 2015. Stay tuned.

grand theft installation

A few more images from Grand Theft, a permanent installation for the 2014 FotoFocus Biennial. My favorite piece from the series is above, Koon's Pink Panther at MOMA. 

grand theft lithophanes

Lithophanes from Grand Theft - a 2 part permanent installation at The Carnegie in Covington, KY for the 2014 Fotofocus Biennial. Grand Theft is a Future Retrieval project that has been 6 months in the making, stealing our favorite pieces from museums around the country using a series of iphone images. The images were used to produce 5 porcelain busts, as well as lithophanes of each piece in it's original museum location. More images and information here.

cut paper wallpaper

The landscape cut paper background from our piece "Zuber's Menagerie" is now permanently installed in the living room. Our house has officially become a proving ground for past and future works. I am also secretly testing myself to see how much ornament and pattern I can live with before I break.

leaner

My take on the David sculpture GMD made this summer - ornamented with sprig molded banana leaves and gold leaf. The pattern is based on the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel wallpaper, which I will continue to copy and find new uses for...

one more hawk experiment

Ornamental Cooper's Hawk, 16" x 12" x 8", porcelain, luster, china paint, marble, photo collage, 2014