Archie Bray

I was fortunate enough to spend the summer of 2014 as an artist in residence at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. I continued my exploration of print on clay, here primarily utilizing screen prints of drawings that I had shot into screens earlier in the year. The Archie Bray has a fantastic arsenal of kilns, including an excellent soda kiln which I made extensive use of during the summer. I began exploring ways to integrate the curving, undulating lines of my faceted work into more simple forms that were conducive to the printed imagery and the underglaze inlay I was making use of. I also began what is my current obsession of exploring and remediating fabric and embroidery patterning on the ceramic surface. The soda kiln’s push and pull with first making more evident, and then eventually obliterating, the prints and patterns on my work through its volatile atmosphere kept the work fresh for me all summer. The environment of the Bray and all the other amazing and talented artists-in-residence kept filling my head with ideas – many of which I now continue to explore in my current electric fired work.