i love repetition. and contrasts. severities. hundreds, one, black, white. life.death. i have been casting snakes and deer legs, blindly. not knowing what the result will be, but loving the process too much to stop. then I went to post these images, for the sake of exposing the process. i think the 1st two are telling. they work well together. going with that will be my next step.






sometimes the simplest are my favorite. i was wrapping the dead baby bird in thread. orange, gray. and simultaneously wrapped a large sculpture in hoarse hair (thanks laurel), then wrapped the bird in one strand of the hoarse hair. to me this reads nurturing, maybe even mourning of one distinct species for another, contrasting most obviously in size.

The deer is finished!
Because of the plexiglas, his shadows play on the wall, an effect I hadn't thought of as relevant until someone brought it to my attention. (I'm going to try and get a better image with the shadows).


My studio grows.

A story from my childhood, written on a chalkboard. A porcelain squirrel, relevant to the story.


Baby birds and snakes. I'm VERY happy with the shelf of many birds, not so sure about the cluster of birds in the corner, how the snake relates to them, and the dark gray behind them. Working the details out as this body of work progresses.

I seem to have forgotten how important showing the process of making the work is. I was reminded this past weekend.

The porcelain deer you saw in earlier blogs was made with a plaster cast. I took a cast of the real deer. Because it was the summer, and animals rot more quickly after death, I was not able to get what I wished for: the entire deer. But I’m taking that as a blessing in disguise. His relief seems to be just as satisfying to me.


After bisquing (firing once) him, I covered the surface with graphite. This is the deer installed directly into the wall in my studio.(You can double-click on the photo to see it bigger and in more detail)


Realizing I was approaching the same installation issues as I always seem to, I decided to install the deer into Plexiglas, then install the plexi into the wall. I have a love affair with plexi so I’m happy with the results so far. You will see the finished product SOON!

All drawings of life are done with a black background, all of death, are on a white background. These  drawings are all of death, and though this dog is fairly decomposed and may be a gruesome subject, I hope for a certain amount of beauty and serenity to come through.


A detail of the dog.


This is the same deer that was depicted in porcelain. The composition is similar to all of the other drawings. He lays in the bottom, left corner of a large (30"x22") piece of white paper.






The bird, with a bit of graphite added.

Video of Tops Spinning

I have been trying to upload this for months. The hands are studio-mates Dan and Drew. Their hands and their talking make the performance even more poetic for me.

there would be no beauty if there was no imperfection.

My roommate found a Robin that had fallen out of it's nest before even growing feathers. She called me at the studio and asked if I wanted it. Drew found a baby snake in the driveway and left it on my table. On a regular basis I receive gifts of exotic-looking bugs and animals such as these. I think these are really thoughtful gifts.

I have casted the Robin and the snake. The plaster positives are nowhere close to perfect, and I prefer them that way.

Death has taken on a whole new meaning out here. It has become less nostalgic, and more a part of the cycle of life. I was tempted to bury this deer, then realized the turkey vultures need to eat.


Casting a dead baby deer may seem unethical to some, to others-it immortalizes it. To me, I couldn't help but create a piece of porcelain that captures its elegant form.


A drawing of Roxy looking through a brightly lit doorway.


A hummingbird came in, attracted to the flickering fluorescent lights. He burned himself and died a while later. The colors on his neck were some I'd never seen on an animal, in person. They changed drastically, depending on your perspective.


After casting a deer leg, I began throwing the slab to flatten and reuse it...it began to look like an archeological dig.


A black snake sunning himself in the middle of the road. I thought the line he was creating was lovely.


Simon was our French resident. He came and left in a month. He was refreshingly goofy.


2 cows silhouettes looked like one long, many legged animal when I first came over the hill. Neither of these photos created the result I wanted, but the blurriness and bug guts on the windshield may be better.



Our second tomatoe from our garden!