Ceramic & Functional Ware Artist

In the cabinet, drying in the sink, warm with food, or filled to the brim with soup, there is a set of bowls from 1963. They have lived many lives. Carried from Germany to New Jersey, then to Ohio, and finally to California. They have followed the quiet migrations of a family. What began as a set of six slowly thinned into a beloved two. Inside each bowl, a floral pattern still lingers, softened by decades of spoons, hands, and daily use. The flowers are faded now, scratched in places where metal has met ceramic again and again, leaving behind small records of care and routine. These marks are not damage, so much as evidence that the bowls have aged alongside us. 

My sets of functional ceramic bowls, plates, and cups place objects worn down by love in direct contrast to their original, perfect versions, exploring how we form emotional attachments to objects and carry them throughout our lives. These cherished possessions age with us as we routinely use and care for them. Using brown clay and plaster molds, I create clean, uniform sets of ceramic functional ware, each transformed by love. I drape and smooth clay over self-cast plaster molds, trim them to equal heights, and erase texture from the slab roller. I select one to wear down. I use a wet sponge to rub off layers of glaze where the hand would grasp the object, or where lips would erode the edges. I use a drill, sandpaper, and a mallet to intentionally create chips, cracks, splinters, and dents that leave the imprint of daily use. This process makes the objects bear visible marks of love and routine, transforming them from pristine commodities into intimate companions. Clay captures the imprint of both the maker’s and user’s hands, emphasizing that loved objects are used, not shielded. My goal is to show how objects outgrow their function and become vessels for memory, care, and continuity. I invite viewers to recognize their own cherished objects and the quiet relationships they hold.