Artist Statement

I’m not really sure why I chose fish. Sometimes I say that it’s because I’m a Pisces, other times I’ll pinpoint the project from 4 years ago that started it all, but most of the time, I don’t really have an answer. There has just been something that drew me to the form and fluidity of aquatic life. 

Working with clay lends itself to this flexible, organic nature, but I have also been able to create these “fishguys”, as I call them, in nearly every medium I work with. It's something of a throughline in my artistic journey. Every time I try a new material, my instinct seems to be making one of these creatures as a sort of benchmark. 

This collection represents the past year of my life, taking a deeper look into the metaphors and meanings that I connect with in my creations. The most prominent to me is how they can represent rejecting the gender binary. It often feels like the world is trying to force everyone into boxes, but almost nothing in nature is able to be rigidly categorized the way society might want it to be. Having a creature that can’t be put into “one” or “the other” can open up the possibility of a “both”, a “neither, an “in-between”. Being able to see all of your options is important when deciding who you want to be. 

I hope that this collection will help remind people that you shouldn’t force yourself into a box that doesn’t fit. You can choose to live as you. 

Ceramic Pieces

Paintings

Paper Media