Birthplace Vase

Oval vase, part of a series of work related to my birthplace. Here is a statement I wrote for a recent show at Red Lodge Clay Center called “Clay As Place: The Transient Object”: In the summer of 2025, I presented at a conference in Roanoke, Virginia and was able to visit Blacksburg, where I was born, just an hour away. My parents both attended Virginia Tech there, and I was raised in that town until the age of five, when we relocated to the Washington, DC suburbs. On my trip last year, I made it a point to return to the campus duck pond, a place tied to my childhood memories, and I was able to collect a small amount of clay from this location, which I processed into terra sigillata. I have included in this collection of pots two mugs that feature this sig, along with ceramic decal photographs of myself and my best friend as toddlers feeding the ducks on that pond. As I decorate with these different clays, I am automatically transported back to the origins of the material. A small ball of clay is a piece of a place that I can bring back home with me, into my studio, to create meaningful works that are then sent back out into the world: Clay As Place, The Transient Object. 6” x 3” x 6”