Pedestal Vase

Okeweemee Bowl

Fat Belly

Thrown and burnished then fired for bisque, gold and horsehair reduction

Lidded Okeweemee Bowl

Thrown and burnished bowl and lid with thumb curl. Fired for gold and horsehair reduction.

Thumb wrinkle

Christine's Urn

N.C. Wild Pipe

Okeweemee with feet

Lidded horsehair

Nouveau vase

Demonstrating at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts

The fusion of the Indochinese and Western cultures is of great interest to me. Horsehair reduction and gold are the surface elements and the forms are derived from classical and Art Nouveau periods.

I am drawn to the intimate and painterly approach of horsehair reduction. The highly burnished forms create the canvas. The act of painting with horse hair is fast and fluid. This looks like translucent layers of line and smoke. The process demands acute awareness of temperature, which dictates the moment when the painting of line and direction of smoke is imprinted into the burnished clay.

The piece tells the story of each of those moments. A wisp of smoke created by a hard line of horsehair reduced at a moment when the temperature of the piece is perfect. The fluidity in which my hands work, while my eyes seek clues for direction of process is instinctive.

I use Instagram to teach my workshop students process and technique.

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