My current mixed media work combines hand built porcelain and river wood from the nearby Rondout Creek.   Exploring the banks of the river on morning walks has become a regular daily ritual over the years. Intrigued by the shapes and surfaces of the wood that washed ashore I began collecting it and this was the source for an entirely new body of work.
 
Sometimes the forms of the wood were my inspiration.  The “Saturn’s Wishbone” series evolved from finding forked pieces of wood.  In other instances, such as with “River Thorns”, the porcelain “thorns” were created before I found the wood which  completed the idea.  In both cases these pieces are essentially collaborations between the two materials.
 
In the beginning, this project was technically challenging as I had little experience in working with wood.  The construction and simplicity of Shaker woodworking resonates with me and I’ve adopted their solution for wood joinery by using pegs made from dowels.  In addition, the Shaker reference is more than a technical solution;  their understated approach appeals on a deep level to my own aesthetic sensibility.