Chasing the Coastline

Leading up to my trip to San Francisco, I was tired. I had just worked really hard in the studio for West Coast Craft, and was so ready to just be transported somewhere else, somewhere where I didn’t have to do much thinking or planning. My boyfriend came with me and we decided to go on a road trip up the coast before flying back to New York. We went from San Francisco up through Oregon, into Washington state, and then back down. We just drove up the coast roughly six or eight hours each day, stopping anytime we liked to go into little towns, check out little shops, or go on hikes. If it caught our eye, we’d stopped. No place or sight was too small.

One of the days I remember vividly. It was incredibly overcast, cool, and misty — one of those beautiful stereotypical Northern California, Pacific Northwest kind of days. I was set on finding a tide pool, so we stopped at this random beach and started on this small, woodsy trail. After walking through the trees for a bit, we stepped onto the most beautiful rocky beach. I could not believe how breathtaking it was. The waves were crashing, creating this natural harmony as the sea foam rushed up toward us. We were inhaling the crisp scent of the sea, feeling the light mist on our skin, it was a full sensory experience I’ll never forget.

I don’t use much glaze in my work. I use a clear glaze on the inside of things, but I keep most of my work on the outside unglazed because I want people to feel the tactile quality of clay. I think a lot about the experience someone who buys my pieces will have: I don’t want anything to feel too precious or delicate. I don’t want a vase or plate to sit unused, collecting dust. Things should be used, be held. I create functional pieces of art for people, pieces that tell the stories of my experiences, but also allow them to connect to their own experiences, too. In the early years of my work, I was a workaholic because it was all so new and exciting. I just blurred the boundaries of who I was with what I did. And sometimes you have to do that, and it feels good in the moment, but the trip helped me remember just how important rest and recharging is. You can’t feel guilty for taking time for yourself, you can’t keep pushing yourself without coming up for air, because you’ll break. You’ll burn out, psychologically and creatively.