Labors of Love

My highly textured surfaces, though orderly in one sense, contain enough variability to implicate the slow work of hands as opposed to machines. These multi-layered, dimensional surfaces offer a space with physical depth for more complicated considerations. Here, a ceramic quilt, a labor of love, typically made with a soft, flexible, material susceptible to deterioration, has been translated into clay. It is delicate and fragile. It is also incredibly hard and rigid, and, like the ceramic shards that have survived antiquity, it will stubbornly persevere.

My work reveals an obsession with texture and handwork, for me the similarity of these two things is time. I produce textures that are invisible to quick glances. Like quilting, knitting and other handwork techniques which inspired them, my surfaces reward those who slow down to get a closer look. In a culture defined by efficiency and productivity, handcraft techniques can feel like an act of subversion.

A quilt, which requires a great deal of time and expertise to make, has no place in a market predicated on efficiency. I am interested in those objects that we recognize as valuable even when the market doesn’t reflect that value. We commonly refer to these objects, whether they are actually objects or intangible, thoughtful actions, as “Labors of Love.” My work embraces the significance of these acts.