I’m a first-generation artist from rural Illinois, where my first introduction to clay came from agriculture, not art. Growing up alongside my mother’s flower farm, sowing seeds with her by hand every season, meant I spent a lot of my adolescence, elbow deep in our soil. This physical connection to our land has fostered a deep connection with the ceramic materials I use in my practice. 

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Designing and building shelters, corrals, fences, and operating heavy machinery has instilled in me a hardworking problem-solving approach that is very prevalent in my ceramic practice. I design and fabricate my own tools, like handmade osage wood ribs/knives, 3D-modeled extruder dies, and laser-cut mylar stencils. Each piece emerges from this process of observation and invention that I learned while working on my farm. 

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My work revolves around uplifting female laborers, specifically my mother. I do this currently by using her flowers as an embodiment of her labor, then building work that acts as a pedestal or monument for them. These pieces are intended to invoke feelings of pride, convey a history of labor, and remind viewers of their mothers and other hardworking women in their lives. I want these vessels to be maximalist and grandiose, aiming to honor my mom’s labor as a mother and a farmer. These are both deeply physically and emotionally taxing tasks, yet often overlooked, not only in my personal life, but also historically. I strive to achieve this sense of overwhelming grandeur by using architectural references from some of the most extravagant times in history, like the Baroque and Rococo periods. I throw and compositely assemble these vessels to loosely resemble the complex contours of royal chalices. I purposefully push these forms beyond the idea of conventional vases, each design reflecting an individual flower needs, blending the seam between vase and flower, the ephemeral and permanent married into one.