Body Trace

It is my desire to give form to the human experiences that I encounter. My focus is on the trails, the impression left by our lives. I am fascinated with the texture of being. Every experience or interaction is an imprint upon our bodies, our emotion, and our spirit. What impression does our experience leave on the environment, on other persons, on ourselves? It is my hope to be present with the impression - the texture of the moment.

In my work, the integration or laying of different forms, ideas, texture, media, colors and impressions is a primary theme. I have little desire to work with absolutely straight lines and exact forms. Our lives are not lived in a linear fashion. Our challenges are never perfectly resolved. Our bodies are never static. We are a landscape and part of a narrative and literal landscape.

In this sculpture series I used clay and a technique I call "draping".  In this process the clay is rendered very thin and then has a smooth surface or is impressed with a variety of designed. Then the clay is draped like cloth over the body to capture the human form or over objects for an abstract form. After firing, the form is painted and/or printed on with acrylic.

My work brings forward the qualities of weightlessness and suppleness in clay media, rather than its solidity. Using this technique there are combined layers of human form, abstract form, color, painted or printed image, and impressed designs. 
The result of this combination is a form that asks the viewer to look closer.

I began draping clay on the body to directly connect with the model. I wanted to record their particular 'landscape', to tell that particular story. I am forever seeing the human form in landscape and vice versa. I am drawn toward the suppleness and changeability of clay, especially in its raw form.