I like to make objects and installations that evoke associations of places and their cultural manifestations that I have come across through research and travel throughout the world. These material metaphors for things seen and remembered serve as unique repositories for the extension of my thoughts and reflections.
The two autobiographical life-size ceramic masks were made using my face, literally, as the model on which the slabs of clay were initially formed. My finished masks are inspired, in part, by issues of life and death, ideas associated with cremation and by the skull racks (tozampantl) of the Aztecs. They are imbued with reflective associations of alternate identities. As I ponder these images in clay, essentially fabricated from my physiognomy, I connect with various layers of meaning. They serve as metaphorical bridges to my life, ideas and teaching in interesting and curious ways.