My objects are made using mass-produced plastic rocks that are used in yards to hide gas and electrical objects. These fake rocks are the positive objects that I used to make plaster molds to slip cast in porcelain and terracotta clay. The porcelain is fired to cone ten using traditional glazes and low fire terracotta is unglazed like planters. I have also used advanced technology to create the pedestals from plywood, reminiscent of tree rings, soil samples, and structural geology alluding to the striations in the landscape forming plinths resembling mountains. The intent is to restore the fake rocks back into their original geological material creating an installation of a faux-real, land/rock-scape. A riverbed is hung from the ceiling with individually copper thread tied to small terracotta clay particles, partially glazed with metallic gold and bronze glazes. These clay objects mimic the real-world phenomenon of tiny clay particles that absorb water and form the clouds/fog that we see above us in the natural world.

Conceptually, I am commenting on our mass cultural production’s mimicry of nature with materials that are cheap, fake junk, which will one day reside in landfills. Ironically, replacing petroleum plastics with ceramic materials return the forms to a beautiful and natural rock-like state. I intend to circumvent overburdened themes such as environmentalism, in favor of a non-linear, fantastical position calling attention to less evident aspects of the relationships between people and the natural world, including intellectual, psychological, and numinous facets of this symbiosis.