From a young age, I was fascinated by the beauty of the natural world; from gazing up to the stars at night, to exploring the wilderness, to making friends with any creature I met. My rural upbringing in Green Springs, Ohio gave me the opportunity to learn about nature, and all of its living things. I grew up surrounded by flora and fauna. My family had a rich history in raising strange animals, everything from peafowl, to sugar gliders, to show-quality Arabian horses. One powerful influence in particular was the exotic pheasants that my dad raised. For my dad and I, raising these birds was more than a side-business or a hobby, it was an effort to help raise the numbers of many dwindling species. Many of the birds that we raised had a far greater population in captivity, than in their indigenous areas. We feared that with increasing deforestation, hunting, and habitat loss, these birds may exclusively survive in captivity. For my dad and many other breeders throughout the world, raising these animals was a sacrifice of time, money, and energy, in exchange for the hopeful longevity of an endangered species. It was this ideology, work ethic, and self-discipline that led me to make the work I’m making now.

    Many of my pieces are wall-mounted, three-dimensional works. I believe that the scale of these pieces makes them more approachable, and adds a sense of curiosity to the work, making the pieces more investigative. Within my work, I tend to include many references and clues, enticing the viewer to discover all of the work’s hidden secrets. In my older works, I used astronomy and mythology as a platform to place these animals among the stars. The astronomical bodies that I chose to align these creatures with gave insight into their nature. With the Endangered Species series, several of the pieces have clues regarding the animals’ conservation status; from population size, to habitat loss, to wildlife reserves, and more. The detail is done on a small scale, which enables the viewer to treat it as a precious, delicate object, and to regard the content as such, too.

 

The Endangered Species series pieces are fired to Cone Six oxidation, in an electric kiln. This controlled firing process helps to preserve the level of detail I want to come through in the work, as well as to promote accurate colors in a specific palette. This level of control allows me to direct the narrative of the imagery. With my older body of work, I fired largely in atmospheric kilns. I learned how to position pieces in the kiln in such a way to protect certain areas of the surface, while obscuring others. Additionally, the I used the flashing from the kiln to add power to the surface design, bringing it to life and giving energy to the content. The nature of atmospheric kilns reflects the nature of the earth; erratic, exuberant, a balance of destruction and life. This juxtaposition of revealing and masking the surface draws a parallel to the subject of my newer works; the reality that endangered species face today. Many species are fading and receding into the background, while consequently, it is the disappearance of a species itself which draws our attention, and brings issues to light. It’s fitting that work about the natural world should be treated in such a way. The species on this planet are subject to the chaotic and ever-changing ways of mother nature, as well as being subject to man’s influence -- much like the wood kiln.

 

My aim is to raise awareness, provoke interest, and to educate. I want to surprise people by showing them animals they have never seen before. I want that curiosity to enable people to live a more interesting life. I want to bring the reality of these dwindling species to the surface. With these pieces, I aim to make people notice the beauty of the natural world around them more often.