The Imprints series of vessels was my first truly Hawaii-based work, inspired by ‘lava trees’, strange constructs left in the wake of violent geological events from my new home on the slopes of Kilauea Volcano. Early in my time in the islands I visited a site deep in Volcano National Park where lava had flowed rapidly through a tall forest, then abated. The remnants were huge standing molds of ossified lava which had cooled around the trunks of incinerating trees.

I utilized many of the wheel throwing and mold making techniques I’d developed in L.A. to create large vessels which I “imprinted” in the processes of their creation utilizing temporary improvisational mold forms, which were later removed. The pieces carried time, history, accident, and process. I was beginning to question the validity and viability of an intention driven existence.

In the 1990s, L.A. based ceramist, Monika Mann began working with glazes that generated black and white fractal patterns, Shino glazes over a dark field. I was fascinated by these surfaces, which reflect patterns in the lava fields of Kilauea Volcano.

Monika and I began to work together. Her glaze experiments formed the foundation for all the glazes I used in the Imprints series. It took two years of experimentation to stabilize the glazes Monika had generated.

A couple of years after Monika moved to Hawaii we had our daughter, Bella, an even more amazing collaboration.