Artist Statement:

I have always been intrigued by how the mind works, and that curiosity has taken me through two degrees in neuroscience and a legal career where I often had clients that experienced brain injury. I am exploring the sources of our emotion in ceramic pieces that reflect organs such as the heart, lungs and stomach.  The heart is a pop symbol of affection, but physiologically it is a complex structure with powerful muscles that are timed and coordinated with neuronal pacemakers.  Heart rate reflects emotional response in real time.  And personally, my chest aches when I am stressed, which is something many people experience.  Heartache is real.  I made anatomical hearts that were wildly glazed and violently shaped.  I would give these hearts to people and gained great pleasure by watching people hold them and respond to them.  I wanted people to have the hearts, and touch them, and see them, and gain comfort from their strangeness.  

 I am also taking the microscopic world of neuronal structures to a large scale.  I have sculpted retinal ganglion cells and bipolar cells that are over five feet tall to highlight the cellular structures that are the starting points of vision.  Seeing anatomy in an artistic form can change the viewer’s conception of what physicality is, and hopefully give a new perspective on concepts such as mental health.  A giant “synaptic bouton” glazed and texturized and poised to release neurotransmitters may help people understand that depression has a myriad of molecules playing a role.  I want viewers to create their own philosophical theories as to what free will is and how beautiful and miraculous thinking is. By making pieces that are interactive visually, but also physically, I want to create new mind spaces for the viewer.  I want these mind spaces to be experiential and ideological, as well as beautiful.