Tell us about your practice and how you came to making?

I began working in ceramics and wood a little over two years ago. I initially got into ceramics as a hobby at a local ceramic studio, but it quickly turned into a deep dedication to the craft. Woodworking, on the other hand, has always been at the back of my mind because I grew up near all of my dad’s woodworking equipment, which he inherited from his father. I’ve always been a fan of craftsmen such as JB Blunk and Wendell Castle and one day decided I wanted to make my own work. 

Do you have a ritual when it comes to making/designing work?

I am very impatient when it comes to planning and mapping out projects, so I typically start from just a sketch. I always start with the ceramic bits, building them by hand, then doing a bisque firing followed by a glaze firing. I work on the ceramic part of a project first to see the size, shape, and how the glaze will interact with different species of wood. That process is then followed by working on the wood bases and doing the electrical wiring.

What brought you to working in clay and wood together and how has that process of working between the two mediums influenced your work?

My favorite part about working with ceramics and wood is that when I get frustrated with one, I can take a step back and work with the other. I tend to get antsy when working on only one medium for an extended period of time, and it didn’t seem sustainable for me to practice only one craft for the rest of my life. These two mediums bring their own challenges and always keeps things feeling new. 

You talked with us a little about the trove of tools you inherited from family members who worked in various crafts. Has making always been a part of your family’s history?

Making things has always been a part of my family, but only as a hobby during their free time. My grandfather worked as an equipment buyer for a high school in Canada, and one day, he bought new woodworking equipment for the high school’s woodworking class. He bought the old equipment from the school for a fraction of the cost and used it to make furniture over the years. When he passed away, my dad luckily inherited it, and I feel very blessed to use it myself at no cost. I don’t think I would’ve ever gotten into woodworking if the equipment wasn’t so readily available to me. 

What equipment or tools are essential for your process? How do they define or limit what you can do?

For ceramics, my main tool is my hands. I hand-build all of my pieces and use only a handful of shaping tools. The most essential tool, of course, is a kiln, and I was lucky to score a 50-year-old one on Facebook Marketplace for $100. After some rewiring, it works like a charm. (Older kilns were built with thicker kiln brick, which helps with efficiency and controlled cooling.)

My woodworking, on the other hand, uses nearly every tool in the shop. For a typical lamp base, I use a thickness planer, miter saw, table saw, band saw, angle grinder with a shaping disc, belt sander, dremel, and random orbital sander. I follow that with hand-sanding, oil for finishing, and electrical components for wiring.

The work lends itself to feeling very natural, very connected to nature. Do you see your work as a dialogue with nature, or as a reinterpretation of it?

Both! Some of my bases are directly influenced by specific trees I see on my walks or hikes. Burls—growths on trees caused by stress or disease—have inspired a lot of my bases as of late. I’ve found myself wanting to make less polished versions of things I’ve made in the past lately, and observing trees and their natural growth has guided that. Nature is the number one source of inspiration for anything that I make. My favorite part of my day is taking my dog for a walk in the evening and observing the silence of a wooded park for inspiration.

The glazing of your clay seems to lean into NATURAL greens and blueS. What inspired this sort of color palette?

Nature! I have one favorite tree in my local park that has perfectly round patches of moss going up the entire tree, and it has inspired a lot of glaze work. The wood I work with always inspires the glaze palette that I use as well, all of my glazes have their own hues that look good with specific species of wood.

What’s next for you?

My style has been shifting quite a bit lately, and I’m putting a lot of energy into nurturing that. I’ve been learning and experimenting with new (to me) woodworking techniques to move my work forward, particularly into furniture. However, lamps will always be at the top of my to-make list—I have too many ideas to ever stop making them!