My sculpture, "Plenty," is a white stoneware cornucopia, ripe with individually crafted pods, flowers, seeds, and other plant forms. The small, individual sculptures approximate the forms they represent. I want this type of subtle abstraction to trigger the viewer's imagination: here is a seed pod, but it is something more; there is a morel mushroom but not quite. I use an off-white lichen glaze on the plant forms to represent nature or Mother Earth. The absence of color suggests questions about our earth, climate change, and sustainability. I hope that the absence of color makes these inanimate objects more life-like.
I also have created a second set of colored miniatures that can be used interchangeably; the colors are unnaturally muted, as if seen through a lens. The cornucopia itself appears Grecian in nature—the result of three glazes that work together to form a patina of color. “Plenty” works on different levels. The sculpture is at once a celebration of botany, a statement about our bounty, and a question about the timeless aspect of nature in art. But no matter which questions or statements “Plenty” raises in the viewer, the presence of the cornucopia and the plant forms rise to meet the viewer’s eye.