When I begin a new piece, I bring to mind a specific memory or place, then determine a color palette that captures that moment. My process involves many layers and trips to the kiln. Whether I’m making a vessel or creating a multi-layer slab, I think of each layer as a kind of journal entry, with colors, patterns and design standing in for words. The finished work an abstracted trace of what prompted it.

I often find myself at odds with glass, which becomes hard, smooth and shiny after being fired at high temperatures. My goal is the opposite: to create glass objects that are more organic, softer or textured in design. I appreciate both the active and inactive aspects of kiln-formed glass. For much of the process I actively participate in design and creation. But I must eventually surrender the glass to the kiln and let heat, gravity and time do its work.