Artist Statement

I work between drawing, painting, and kiln-formed glass to explore the beauty of natural forms and the feelings they evoke. I approach the medium of glass as a painter, creating molded three-dimensional objects out of layered planes of color. Drawn to glass's ethereal qualities that are simultaneously opaque and transparent, I have developed a unique method of transitioning watercolor paintings to sculpture through techniques I originally learned and adapted while making slumped glass dish-ware.  In the medium of glass, these “paintings” take on otherworldly colors, tones, and textures that allow me to explore the heightened beauty of natural organisms. I use watercolor paint and pencils to make reference drawings for my glasswork: a combination of scientifically accurate illustration and surreal figurative imagery. Watercolors, like glass, are transparent and opaque and can be layered to build color.

I am currently dedicated to the exploration of bivalves–oysters specifically–not only for their beguiling form and ecological significance but also for their multiple cultural connotations. Oysters have held a rare and mystical status to many different cultures and civilizations, sought out for their aphrodisiac effect, their value as a delicacy, and their creation of pearls. But oysters’ potential for the rebirth and regrowth of our planet, as a solution to waterway pollution, making them truly exquisite. Every oyster contains a world within itself. I capture each specimen, transforming its intrinsic beauty into a kind of geode crystal; beautiful and lasting.