Each ceramic sculpture goes through a series of steps to reach the goal of a vitrified, finished piece.  The raw clay is formed, bisque fired and then fired to the point of vitrification. 

When most people think of pottery or ceramics, they think of a shiny, colored glaze on the surface.  There are many ways to decorate glazed pottery, with layers of color, a single layer of a glaze, multiple firings of the same piece with different decoration on each layer, and/or using clear glazes on top of underglaze decoration.  Glazes can be matte, satin or shiny.

For my ceramic faces I form each original piece by sculpting the features on a curved slab of clay.  It is  sometimes (not always) colored with underglazes prior to  bisque firing.  When the piece is strong enough to be handled, shadows are applied to the features and texture using black underglaze.  This is covered with color, either through other underglazes or by using a colored glaze.

After glazing with colored or clear glaze, the piece is fired to vitrification. The result is a colored surface with features emphasized by the shadows in the deep texture of the clay.

Each original "face" is formed and colored to show an individual personality or emotion.

After the face is finished, I study it and give it a name that seems to reflect the piece.

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