Figurative Ceramic Sculpture

The Witness

Celebration in the Cave
(After an Ajanta cave painting detail of the miracle of Sarasvati)

"Floating above the muck"

Jump for joy

Laughing

When it rains, we dance

Fish Lotus Posture

Maquette

"Mother Earth"

"Day Trip to the Ocean, Waves Rise and Fall"

"Contra Pasta"

This Life size ceramic figure was built based on the smaller version below, which is now embedded in a large block of sand cast glass. The unfired sculpture was modeled on an armature with a rod sticking out the back, and when dry I held it sightly floating in a box shaped sand mold and had 3 large ladles of molten glass poured around it. The dry clay started popping beneath the molten glass and blowing big glass bubbles which were popped with a blow torch as any little moisture was trying to escape the clay. This was one of the most exciting sand-casting experiments, and one that required a great deal of cold working afterward.

Ice Queen

This was a table in my College studio at CCA, circa 2007

Self Portrait
My First Life size sculpture, 2004

A Drop in the Ocean

"Gaia in Orbit"

"Vulnerability and Strength"
Life Size

"Finding The Ancient Essence"

Inner growth

"The Struggle for an Open Mind"

Totem

Panda Man with Aloe

Rainbow Lotus

Be Happy

Interconnected endangering

"Remain Alert"

"I had a feeling I was a cat in a past life"
Sometimes working with clay and a live model, strange things begin to reveal themselves about the sitter's nature.

Sleep

"Medicine Woman"


Headstand Cunnilingus

"From the heart"

"Opening entirely to life as it is"

"Transcendence"

Glazed Ceramic

"Let us now celebrate exploding stars"
Glazed ceramic

Paint chips

Introspection

Homeless man asleep

Woman in a cloak

Not everything has to have a reason


Chin Chin's first Halloween house party in America

Wandering the streets

bust

Emergence


Sculptor

Kundalini Yogini


Foot behind head posture

What are you doing?

Some people understand

accepting reality can be difficult

Spend time doing what you love to do

nobody said it was easy

I wonder

This is a selection of a continuous project involving thick, layered paint chips peeling off of a graffiti wall that gets painted over regularly. I've been collecting pieces of the paint, some as thick as a quarter inch and re-painting the surface with fresh imagery. Some of them start as a palette and pictures loosely emerge from leftover paint, while others are rendered from photographs or drawings. The non-preciousness makes for a good space to freestyle. I exhibit them as clusters, and in every different arrangement, new stories emerge.

Interconnection

"The wall of destructive creativity"
Photo by Shayla Miller

An article titled "Interconnection" was recently published about my work in New York magazine "Ins & Outs". The online version can be read here in the arts section, http://www.licmagazine.com/content.php
Enjoy

Teapots

Waking up

Arise & shine

Guan Yin

Teacher teapot

"Teapot of inner peace"
Discovery splash

Monk Teapot

Organic Teapot

Freedom

Friendly stranger

Reflection Holograms

All works in this section are reflection holograms of my ceramic fugures, made with a helium neon laser on glass film plates. Color photographs are subtly displayed behind the plates to add a 2d space for the 3d hologram to float in.

"Space people"
8"x10"


"Thinker"
8"x10"

"The theatrics of assumed identity"
8"x10"

"Awe"
4"x5"

"Man in a hood"
4"x5"

"The Observers"
8"x10"

Multiple Exposures

Dancing on Ruins
(the constant celebration of new moments)

The pains of traffic

High Winds

"Danae of Oakland"
After Titian

City Woman

Habitat

Up in the Air

Venus of the Wires

Bather

Locked 1

Locked 2

The Ice Cave Has Melted

Freefall

Impermanence

Dances at Dusk

Rise!

Naked Stroboscopic Dancer

Their Roots Have Been Replaced for Roofs

Are we Ancient?

Laughing Sisters

Global Veins

Star Dust

Industrial Landscape

The Joy Of Urban Decay

Seville

Handstand Skyscraper

Concrete Factory

Head in the sand

What I Do to the Earth, I Do to Myself

The Wheel Keeps Turning

The Bridge

All Photographs in this section are color film prints made in the darkroom. Some are in-camera double exposures, some are printed from multiple negatives. My intention with these images is to visualize the interconnectedness of all things, especially that of humanity and the earth. Prints are available in 8"x 10", 11"x 14", and 16"x 20"

Cast Glass Art

"Ice Queen"
Sand Cast Glass, Clay, Metal

"Venus of the Sands"
Sand Cast

"Sitting with One's Thoughts"
Sand Cast

"Prismatic Cheeks"
Sand Cast

"Listening to the Little Voices"
Sand Cast

"Introspection"
Sand Cast

"Face it"
Cold-worked Sand Cast

"Venus of the Inner-Outer"
Cold-worked Sand Cast

"Population Crisis"
Kiln Cast

"Torso"
Kiln Cast

"Group of Friends"
Sand Cast

Paintings On Canvas

"Smile at your thoughts"

Familiarity with form

"Balancing forces of the universe"
2009
18"x24"

AZIJ ANOM
After Mona Lisa
2006
3'x4'

Not Knowing is Okay


Clarity and distortion

Cartwheels

Everything Is Happening All The Time

Leap from Nowhere

Headstand (Sirshasana)
2008

Empathy

Museum Study

Summer

Sky Bather

Swimmers Jumping into Lake Washington

Sunset Song At View Point Park
2003

Interconnection

Burning Labels

What Is Home?

Adam & Eve Riding A Unicorn Through The Garden Of Eden
2008 (Commission for a private collection)

Bridge pose
(Setu Bandhasana)
2008

Jump for Joy
2008

The Transformation of the UrbaNatural
2008
5'x6'

The Game
2006
3'x4'

Funktional Ware

Pot Head

Yin Yang Vase

Unicorn and rider

Buddha cup

Friend

"Dancing Bodhisattva"

Joy In Light

Happy Planters

Jug Head

Lover Bottle

Friend Face Vase

Some Face Cups

Slip painted cups

Dessert Bowl

Adrien Jar

Relief Cups

Cookie Jar

Smiling Vase


My ceramics education was focused on sculpture. It was not until after graduating college that I started making anything on the wheel. I was substitute teaching a seniors ceramics class, and the students were mostly interested in throwing on the wheel, and one of them told me that if I was to teach clay, it was essential that I know how to throw. So I began to teach myself so I could help the students who wanted to make pots and not sculpture. I quickly fell in love with the wheel, and generally use my thrown forms as a functional beginning for sculpted and image decorated forms. You may notice they're mostly all smiling. It is my intention to make functional work with and underlying sense of joy and happiness.