Working with clay as a sculpture medium continues to enthrall and delight me. The challenging process keeps me learning, and as my skill level increases so does my curiosity.

I am usually immersed in a feeling of energized focus for hours on end. Its fun building figures in space. I like the very definite rules of clay building, but it can be full of suspense, taking me to the limit of my patience, to despair and then bringing me back to sweet control and relief all in an afternoon.

Sometimes I have a clear idea in my head of what I want to build before I begin a figure sculpture. Other times I am content to simply begin with the foot placement on the board and, like a puzzle, piece it together from the bottom up.

I prefer to give the imagination free reign when working with clay. I use no inner supports to build my sculpture. It requires balance and timing to get the whole piece completed as it nears leather hard.

I use thick slabs at the bottom for stability and thinner slabs at the top. Once the piece is built, I usually slice off parts of the figure, hollow them further, and reattach them. Because of space limits in my kiln, I fire the piece in two sections. I then glaze the piece, and re-fire it multiple times, before gluing the sections together.