The act of creating has always been a source of catharsis for me. The excitement of troubleshooting new techniques fuels my passion for learning. In those moments, everything slows down—life’s stresses become quieter, and I’m able to process my experiences with greater clarity.
Form, the tactility of clay, and the transformative effects of firing are what draw me most deeply to ceramics. I use wheel throwing as both a technical foundation and a meditative process—one that allows me to engage directly with the material while establishing a sense of rhythm and control. From this structural point, I begin to push beyond utility, altering and manipulating forms to emphasize expression over function.
In my practice, the ceramic vessel is more than a functional container. While it has a long history of holding—food, water, flowers—I am drawn to its symbolic relationship to the human body. We describe its parts in familiar terms: foot, waist, body, shoulder, neck, and lip. This shared language allows the vessel to operate as a stand-in for the figure, a way of exploring the human condition through form.
The surface and structure of each piece contribute to this narrative. Clay and glaze become tools for examining identity, race, and health—each mark, texture, and variation suggesting lived experience. My upbringing as an African American, shaped by both cultural richness and limited resources, informs this approach, emphasizing resilience, improvisation, and transformation.
In earlier work, I created abstract vessels to express feelings of isolation from my youth. These forms acted as conduits for internal and external pressures. By stretching the clay from within, I produced cracked, warped, and bulbous shapes—physical manifestations of bottled thoughts and emotions. The distortion of the vessel mirrors the strain of containment, revealing how unseen forces can reshape the body over time.
Through my work, I continue to explore the vessel as both an object and a metaphor—an evolving form that holds not just material but also memory, tension, and identity.
