LOST CITY
handmade ceramic home goods and kitchenwares
Meet The Artist
WHO ARE YOU, WHERE ARE YOU FROM, & WHAT DO YOU DO?
I am an army brat, I grew up mainly outside of Tokyo, and then lived in Los Angeles, outside of Raleigh, Augusta, for about seven years, and now I live in Charleston, South Carolina.
I am currently a full-time ceramic artist and own my dog training company as well.
DESCRIBE YOUR PROCESS.
I employ a series of techniques and styles to make my pieces. I handbuild, throw, and slipcast. I enjoy, combining them together to create something unique, something a little nostalgic, but definitely something weird.
I focus mostly on home goods and wall art, but I am starting to branch out into larger forms and I’m very excited to see where that takes me.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
I feel like I’m most inspired by other artists in my community.
I do have a foundation in Japanese folk and pop art that continues to have underlying influence on most of my pieces. Because I grew up free wheeling around Tokyo, through all of the shops and galleries, public parks, on transportation and visiting ancient shrines, that culture will always be inextricably part of who I am.
FUN FACT ABOUT YOU.
I am currently learning to be a dog sport decoy. That means I let dogs bite me for fun.
FAVORITE THING ABOUT DOWNTOWN AUGUSTA.
Downtown Augusta is beautiful, the events that happen there are amazing, but my favorite thing about downtown Augusta has to be a specific Major Rager. In 2018, I believe, Major Rager reached its peak when Flaming Lips was the headliner. And I unfortunately the turnout wasn’t as high as expected, possibly because it was supposed to rain, and it was unseasonably cold, but it was the absolute best concert that I have ever been to. It was so intimate and magical and FL played their hearts out. And it is extremely rad to me that it was just on the Common.
WHY DO YOU LOVE TO DESIGN, CREATE + MAKE?
When I first got into Ceramics, I was bartending and not doing much else. It was good money, it was easy work, but it wasn’t very fulfilling. Once I took a class or two at the Gertrude Hebert, I was hooked. I love the fact that the medium that I’ve chosen pretty much allows me to think of something and if it’s within my skillset, it can be made. You’re literally taking dirt and making something amazing out of it. So the endless possibility is what I love the most, even when it feels like I have too many options.
WHAT IS ONE PIECE OF ADVICE YOU WOULD SHARE WITH OTHER ARTISTS + MAKERS?
Make it. Do it. Take two hours and drive somewhere and get a wheel. Spend that money that you would buy something stupid with on some screens and learn how to screen print. It’s gonna sound real cliché, but Kurt Vonnegut said you need to make some thing every day and just make something because we need to. We need to write, we need to make music, we need to make art. And we need to do it for ourselves not for any other reason. You don’t have to show anybody, and you can show everybody! It doesn’t matter just get started.
And at the sake of rambling on even longer, go for your wildest ideas. It’s taken me five years to realize that the weirdest craziest ideas I had were my best ones and my true voice as an artist.