The Alchemist
A Journey of Earth and Fire
The Alchemy of Panic
My formal art training was in painting but my interests quickly incorporated pottery and I actively pursued both separately for years. My new work fuses those interests into one statement. The traditional pottery techniques allow me to design and make the ceramic canvases that later come to life with glazed and painted surfaces.
The throwing phase usually lasts long enough that by the time I get to the painting I have forgotten what I originally intended. In any event, I am usually beginning to “panic” about that time and end up working in a wildly extemporaneous manner.
This leads to many accidental discoveries which further the creative process. It results in one-of-a-kind expressions—a conglomeration of all my artistic experiences.
A Reliquary of Energy
Every piece of pottery I make generates from clay or slip that has been mixed in my studio. I have begun to think of this clay as a source of energy which I enhance with special additions, including holy water from Rome and holy dirt from the shrine of Chimayo in New Mexico.
I also add the ashes of ribbon from the trash can in John Lennon and Yoko Ono's apartment on Bank Street, and ticker tape ashes from the John Glenn parade. I think of my pottery as a reliquary of positive energy.
This one-of-a-kind work is bisque fired and glazed or painted with non-fired mixed media, including pigments with metallic particles washed with acids to produce "living" patinas.
A Charged History
MFA, Painting, Rutgers University
BFA, Ceramics, University of Southwestern Louisiana
"To paint with fire. To capture the panic of creation."
Represented By
- Southern Curator, Covington, LA
- LeMieux Galleries, New Orleans, LA
- Perino’s, Metairie, LA
- Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans, LA
- Rug Chic, Mandeville, LA
- Grace and Mercy, Shreveport, LA
- Caroline and Company, Lafayette, LA
Selected Collections
- Alice Walton, Bentonville, AR
- New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
- Pan American Life Insurance, New Orleans, LA
- Aquarium of the Americas Collection, New Orleans, LA
- University of Southwestern Louisiana Collection, Lafayette, LA
- Lauren Rogers Museum, Laurel, MS
- Meridian Museum, Meridian, MS
- Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
- Ann Barnett, New Orleans, LA
- Arthur Roger, New Orleans, LA
- William Fagaly, New Orleans, LA
- John Bullard, New Orleans, LA
- John Ed Bradley, Mandeville, LA
- Dr. Nia Terezakis, New Orleans, LA
- Mignon Faget, New Orleans, LA
- Jayne and Patrick McMath, Covington, LA
- Jill Champagne, Covington, LA
Solo Exhibitions
- St. Tammany Art Association, Covington, LA
- New Orleans Academy of Art, New Orleans, LA
- Museo Casa Lopez Portillo, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Centro de la Cultura, Zapopan, Mexico
- Preusser Gallery, Taos, NM
- Art Connections, Bethesda, MD
- Mignon Faget, New Orleans, LA
- Gulf/South Gallery, McComb, MS
- Meridian Museum of Art, Meridian, MA
- University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, LA
- Galerie Simonne Stern, New Orleans, LA
Selected Commissions
- 2000 Louisiana State Department of Tourism Award
- 1994 WYES TV, New Orleans, LA Patron Artist
- 1990 Graham Resources, Covington, LA Corporate Christmas Gifts
- 1989 Burger King, St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA Architectural decoration (no longer exists)
- 1986 Tulane University School of Business, New Orleans, LA Architectural decoration
- 1985 Howard and Ann Barnett, New Orleans, LA Residential architectural decoration
- 1981 Louisiana Nature and Science Center, New Orleans, LA Ceramic tile floor
Selected Group Exhibitions
Contemporary Reliquaries: Housing the Momentos of Our Day, Northern Arizona University Art Museum/Flagstaff / Brigham Young University Auditorium Gallery at the Harold B Lee Library, Provo, UT
Offerings: Votives, Retablos and Milagros, The Outsider’s Studio Collective, Livingston Manor, NY
The Best in Contemporary Clay, Miller Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
Galveston’s Salute to New Orleans, Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, TX
Contemporary Ceramics of the Mississippi Delta, The Feliciana Center for the Creative Arts, Clinton, LA
The Choice Collection – Crafts ‘95, Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, Loveladies, NJ
Contemporary Crafts in the Urban Environment, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
Festival International de Louisane, Mastery of Craft, Lafayette, LA
Rutgers Master of Fine Arts 30th Anniversary Exhibition, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Stones Gallery, Kauai, HA
Art Who, Ocean Springs, MS
Celebration of Spring, Sheila Atchinson Gallery, Birmingham, AL
International New Art Forms Expo, Chicago, IL
Capitol Street Crafts Gallery, Jackson, MS
25th Anniversary Traveling Crafts Exhibition, Louisiana Crafts Council
Terrebonne Museum, Southdown Plantation, Houma, LA
The Flower Garden Invitational, Kentuck Museum, Northport, AL
Couples, Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LA
Artisan Gallery, Great Neck, NY
Crafts Incredible Gallery, Kansas City, KS
American Craft Enterprise Exhibition, Dallas, TX
Art Cars, PS 1, New York, Tweed Art Gallery, NJ, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA, Barbara Gilman Gallery, Miami, FL
20th Anniversary MFA Celebration, New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ
Art on the Move/Art in America, Mobile Home Installation, Alternative Space Conference, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
Tiennial, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
Seven Artists from Louisiana, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL
USL 1960-1970, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
Personal Monuments/Artist Burial Ground, Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, LA
Ten Years of Craft in Louisiana, Louisiana Crafts Council, New Orleans, LA
North, South, East, West and Middle, Moore College, Philadelphia, PA
Art in Other Media Invitational, Burpee Museum, Rockford, IL