Artist Statement
When I was a child, my father described my curiosity as my best attribute. As I grew up, my mother, who acted as my first art teacher, honed my creative spirit and clumsy hands by allowing me to make mistakes when creating art. When my hypermobility and tendinitis made the pain in my wrists unbearable and forced a nearly decade-long hiatus in my ceramic work, my nonna reminded me to be kind to my body. These three lessons are paramount to my approach to art, as is the love I hold for my family.
I was trained both in traditional pottery, and in traditional drawing and painting. As such, while oil and acrylic paints do not feel like home in the same manner that being on the wheel does, I draw great inspiration from utilizing painterly and illustrative effects on my vessels. Much of my creative process involves treating 3D forms in a similar fashion as I used to on a canvas.
My current work focuses on applying nature-inspired illustrations on functional vessels — primarily mugs, as they have always been my favorite forms to both throw on the wheel as well as hand build. My hands do not work as they should, so I aim to make my pots lightweight but with a study base in the hope that they can be as comfortable to hold as they are interesting to look at.
