My development as a glass artist is clearly marked in stages that have become unified in my sensibilities and aesthetic of today.  When I seriously committed myself to making, I already possessed a deeply ingrained sense of form, color, function, and design. This sensibility that I came pre- programmed with, was comparable to that of a folk artist. Someone that was not informed by an academic setting, rather the individual just creates what comes to mind.  When your a kid growing up, you don't study what is around you, so much as you absorb it.  In retrospect, I was very privileged to have grown up with, and around so many makers. I was constantly in a state of passive absorption. 

When I was in college, I became fascinated with learning to move and create with glass.  I immediately found my voice through the functional object, and sought out the skills to create what was in my head.  At that point I believed that learning technique and different methods to meet my goals was of utmost importance.  That idea has remained a constant up to the present. 

In this moment my skills have become adequate enough, so that my mind can wander into and investigate the material more lucidly.  I find myself searching out what peoples perceptions are about the vessel, so that I may more clearly make a statement with my work.  The history of glassblowing is rooted in the vessel, and has developed a rich language through time.  I consistently refer to these templates of form and technique that precede my own investigations with the material.  I can no longer fall back on what was my inherent sense of form, color, function, and design.  My new path is to understand fully why I am drawn to certain ideals and qualities that I find in peoples works, like Weiner Werkstatte, Tapio Wirkkila,  Charles Eames, Lino Tagliapietra, Alexander Calder, and Benjamin Moore.  These artists works awaken my senses on two different levels.  On one hand they convey a sense of beauty that doesn't need to be questioned or justified beyond that reaction.  On the other hand, if I choose to dig deeper I find an amazing amount of content relating to a pursuit of perfection, and a kindred knowledge of what it is they are making.   I seek to identify with, and understand these artist success so that I can be honest when I say, that I perceive my work as the result of a love for form, and persistent study of what formal qualities can coexist in a harmony that is pleasing to the eye and other sensibilities.