Now look just a little bit closer...
While I love to paint canvas, there is something to be said about clay's ability to retain texture and well defined visual boundaries. On canvas, I can spill colors together not allowing the eye to completely find a visual definition. With clay, I can offer this same blended illusion, but I can also carve deep into my imagery, creating a distinctive line. The only comparison that I can offer is when an individual is driving across the country. At some points of the journey there will only be an invisible boundary that indicates that you have ventured into a new state. Other borders between states have physical markers (a river, a canyon, a mountain...). These tangible markers tell us that we have arrived into a new part of the country.
My deep carving offers beauty to the eye, but also the hand. One of the best compliments that I ever received was from an adorable married couple. The husband had been carefully leading his blind wife by the hand as they wandered through various art booths. They walked by photography and some painted canvases, then finally made their way to my booth. He leaned into her ear and began whispering descriptions of my work. With a perplexed look on her face, she reached forward, touched one of my carved pots, and began to smile. My texture and carving had allowed her the chance to feel my art's story. With her hands still on the pot, she leaned into her husband and said, "I can see it"...
