"We use animals as ideas to amplify and enlarge aspects of ourselves, turning them into simple safe harbors for things we feel and often cannot express."
~ Helen MacDonald 
'What Animals Taught Me About Being Human'

The unconditional love and loyalty that we find within our canine companions plays a significant role in our personal lives and provides a model for relationships around us. My ceramic work uses narrative of the dog and human relationship to communicate the internal sense of belonging and comfort formed through companionship. Vessels depicting imagery of the dog and human interacting in quiet, intimate moments are used not to convey a specific animal, but to convey a feeling and to talk about all relationships and our innate desire to belong. 

The bond between human and canine was the first documented and strongest inter-species relationship to exist, and it is a dog’s ability to provide unconditional acceptance and loyalty that is the foundation to one of the oldest and most influential relationships of our time. Throughout Western art, dogs have also played a canonic role extending back thousands of years as a form of symbolism or essential to the meaning of a human cast of characters and narrative. 

I find a lot of inspiration in the history of ceramics moving beyond conventional function and form, creating union between shape, decoration, and story is fascinating. Like this, my work varies in shape and incorporates low relief volume and gold luster details within the nostalgic patterns.