Wild clay figures

Hand collecting and processing clay is a way to orient myself in the landscape, connecting body and place. Clays take on different colors depending on both the mineral composition as well as on the firing temperature, and the unpredictability of working with minimally processed materials is one of the rewards of this work. Most of these pieces use clays form the Rocky Mountains or from sites where my family has lived in the recent or more distant past. Land and ideas about belonging are intertwined, and the variety of colors speaks to the variety of places of origin and “home” in modern America.