Welcome to my web site!
The
business of making handmade ceramic art has been my passion since the mid-seventies. Creating Native American petroglyphs,
pottery and sculpture has been my creative output since the mid-nineties, with pineneedle baskets coming later. I am
a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild in Hendersonville, NC, and you can find my work at galleries in Wyoming , Colorado,
Tennesse and North Carolina where I have been serving the public for many years. All the following items are made with my
own two hands and are done with the same techniques used by the ancient ones.
| Petroglyph |
|
| Located in Glade Park, Colorado |
Petroglyphs: Walking into the petroglyph sites and photographing
the beautiful Native American rock art has been a lasting inspiration which has stayed with me throughout the years. The variety
is astounding with many thousands available from Canada to South America.
I have developed
a technique for duplicating these petroglyphs on terra-cotta clay slabs, etching them by hand, staining them to faithfully
mimic their natural aged look, and baking them in a kiln. The final piece of work is attached to a wood panel with
mounting hardware attached for wall hanging. All petroglyphs are related to a specific site.
| Coyote Pair |
|
Sculpture: Native American objects of magic power started
as found items, like a stone shaped like an animal or person. They were considered very powerful and were thought to be ancient
animals or people turned to stone. Some were also adorned with turquois chips or abalone shells, thought to give the spirit
within the object more power to help in hunting, war, initiations, curing diseases, gambling and against witchcraft.
I have tried to capture the essence of the modern and ancient Native American symbols by using clay
coiling or slab techniques by hand. My bear symbols have beaded designs and flint or bone knives as adornment. The
tribal sculptures have a core formed with coils and a slab covering and do not represent any tribe, but are meant to
represent the strength and power of tribal culture. Decoration is usually with pieces of turquois.
| THree-Hole Pot |
|
Pottery: My pottery is made in the same style as the
Pueblo pottery of the American southwest. They are formed by coil forming ropes of clay into any shape the maker can
create. My pots have very natural shapes to them with a southwestern desert feel and varying design elements, as
in actual pueblo pottery. I have included a glazed pot to give you an idea what they look like with color on the surface.
| Pineneedle Basket |
|
Pineneedle Baskets: The bottoms of my pineneedle baskets are terra-cotta
clay and incised with various tools to create interesting effects. The pineneedles are from the long-leaf pine which grow
only along the southeast coastline. The needles themselves can be an astounding 18" to 20" long which make them
a perfect medium for coiling baskets. The heads of the pineneedles form a design on the surface as the basket develops.
Areas of interest: WY, MT, CO, UT, NM, AZ
