Surveying the Ground 

The opportunity to talk about my studio practice presents itself frequently, but more rare is the opportunity to talk about my love of gardening. The two are not mutually exclusive; there is a clear crossover between my garden and the work I make. I have selected and grouped images from my gardens, past and present, with objects of mine that create a visual narrative of relationships and time. 

Gardens have functioned as a new venture for many during the pandemic. I maintained a thriving garden for four of the five years I lived and taught in South Carolina. However, I had to leave my garden during this pandemic. Writing about my garden, revisiting gardens of my past, is bittersweet. As I am now without a garden, a part of me is missing. Having recently relocated to Minnesota, moving here during a pandemic, teaching in-person in a pandemic, I long for and strategize about my next garden in this new place.

The images below reveal a history of moments. They demonstrate what and how I want to see and remember. My gardening practice informs and inspires what I do and what I make – expanding, developing, and evolving my ideas and decisions. These images are a visual resonances of my relationships with clay and garden – how I work a garden, how I think about a garden, how I love a garden, how I need a garden, what is happening around and below me when I am in a garden, and, above all, what a garden offers, gives, and provides.