exploring form | forms in conversation | finished pieces | functional pottery
Blossoming Spine - 2025
handbuilt ceramic sculpture | glaze
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handbuilt ceramic sculpture | glaze
Progress not Perfection - Patton Malott Gallery, 2022
3D printed clay | fluorescent orange spray paint | plywood | found rocks | wire mesh.
Between 2020 and 2022, I spent two weeks each summer working with Ron Rael, Del Harrow, and a wonderful cohort of artists in the Advanced Mentorship Program at Anderson Ranch Arts Center. This piece was part of the showcase in 2022.
In Centering in Pottery, Poetry, & the Person by MC Richards, she writes, "If we don’t connect — person to person, center to center — then we will get lost in a dizzying maze of reflection." That image of a dizzying maze has stayed with me. I originally envisioned this piece as a matrix of four tiles to represent that maze. However, due to a couple of misprints, I wasn’t able to finish the last two tiles before we left for Aspen. So, I pivoted.
Over the past few years, I’ve become increasingly drawn to gabion baskets. I’ve seen them scattered across Red Rock Canyon National Park in Las Vegas, in construction sites, and lining roads. At first, their purpose wasn’t clear to me, so I researched them. One of the many functions of gabion baskets is to serve as a temporary wall, a placeholder. I decided to make a couple that reflected the shapes of the remaining two tiles to complete the matrix.
In AA, we talk a lot about “progress, not perfection.” Perfection is unattainable, and what matters is the progress we make. Sometimes that progress leads us to places we never intended, but that doesn’t make the journey wrong — just different.
This piece is different from what I originally intended, but it’s still “right,” even if it feels a little unfinished or out of place. It’s still “in progress.” As someone who struggles with imposter syndrome, I’m learning to remind myself that we are all works in progress. Even when we feel unfinished or out of place, we are still valid, and we still belong.
3D printed clay | custom glaze by James Haggerty
Nebulus Nugget of Swamp Scum was created by 3D scanning beach rocks in Santa Barbara, California, and then sculpting the scans in Rhinoceros 3D.
The final forms were optimized for 3D printing and printed in clay using VormVrij’s Lutum printer.
The glaze is a custom formulation developed by James Haggerty.
Ultimately, the piece served as the base for Matt Mitros’ MugComposition No. 130, part of an ongoing series at Duane Reed Gallery in St. Louis, Missouri.
The final forms were optimized for 3D printing and printed in clay using VormVrij’s Lutum printer.
The glaze is a custom formulation developed by James Haggerty.
Ultimately, the piece served as the base for Matt Mitros’ MugComposition No. 130, part of an ongoing series at Duane Reed Gallery in St. Louis, Missouri.