When firing ceramics, I sometimes encounter a sensation that seems to exceed simple causality. The act of placing something into a kiln and firing it is itself such an experience.

After firing, I try to trace the reasons for what has changed. Was it the temperature? The position inside the kiln? The materials it was made from? The objects fired alongside it? The electricity? The speed at which the heat rose? I speculate about many possible causes. Rather than emerging from a single cause, each outcome comes into being through the convergence of multiple forces and conditions.

This experience leads me to feel that all things—whether living or nonliving—possess their own agency. It allows me to witness points where different wills collide, and to reflect on how those wills encounter, respond to, and ultimately accommodate one another.

My clay practice explores forms of coexistence.