I am a ceramic artist, working mainly with porcelain. I focus on lavish surface decoration to reference exclusive and precious porcelain wares from 18th-century Europe. I am attracted to the enameled and lustered surfaces of the Baroque, Renaissance, and Rococo porcelain designs including elaborations on structural elements. I am interested in incorporating and referencing historic drawings, motives, and patterns into my work using traditional Chinese and Japanese decorating methods I learned and studied from the skilled crafts women and men of Jingdezhen, China and Kecskemét, Hungary, such as blue and white painting, porcelain painting, flocking, gilding, gold luster, gold leaf, and gold powder applications.
I am captivated by the cultural exchange through porcelain trade starting as early as the 15th Century. Visiting the porcelain capital of the world, Jingedzhen in China, and the Japanese porcelain export port, Arita, and later on encountering a palace filled with early porcelain wares from these two cities at the Zwinger in Dresden, Germany, takes me back to the relationships between these very different cultures and how they continue to influence each other, especially through the ceramic arts. Eastern craft traditions have been handed down to the West, where the handmade aspect is essential.
Although there might be considerable differences between these civilizations, the cultural exchange between them is an important connector of history and has produced a long and rich exchange of ideas between artists and makers.