Mission Clay Terracotta Corridor Exhibition

I am so honored to be one of a dozen artists who created work for the Mission Clay Terracotta Corridor Exhibition in Napa, California. The exhibition draws from work produced at the Mission Clay Pipe factories and each piece is specifically sited on the two milelong Napa Valley Vine Trail route. The work was curated, crated and shipped to and then installed in Napa. The three Shard Skin Columns were made at the Mission Clay Pipe Company Phoenix factory. When given an opportunity to utilize the very large and very heavy pipes, I elected to drill holes through the freshly extruded material and make glazed pipe shards that would then be attached to the surfaces, making a ‘skin of brightly colored glazed shards’ on the surface of each pipe. My goal in every piece I made at the pipe factory was to affect the surfaces by drilling, breaking or cutting the material before drying and firing. During my time working at the Phoenix factory, I was thankful to be helped by Hans Miles, the coordinator of the Mission Clay Art & Industry Program artist residencies.

• 2023