coral reefs have captivated my imagination for as long as i can remember. i love reefs for the mysteries they hold, and for the tiny plant-like animals that are the faceless architects of some of the world’s largest living things. i fell in love with them as a college student doing fieldwork on the Great Barrier Reef. but, as i was falling in love, i was heartbroken to learn of the ominous impacts of climate change, ocean acidification, overfishing and pollution. understanding that something as exquisite and otherworldly as the Great Barrier Reef could be deteriorating so rapidly because of human activities motivated me to dedicate my life’s work to inspiring people to care and act to prevent these impacts.

i sculpt hollow forms by pinching together coils of clay, and use simple tools like chopsticks and wire brushes to texture each piece by hand, often poking thousands of holes to mimic the repetitive growth of coral colonies. i finish and fire the individual pieces using a color palette of glazes that i developed to reflect the vibrant tones and textures of healthy marine invertebrate communities, often juxtaposed against white glazes to emphasize the stark contrast of coral bleaching on reefs stricken by climate change. it feels essential that the medium of my work be ceramic, as calcium carbonate happens to be both a glaze ingredient and the compound precipitated by corals and mollusks to sculpt their stony structures. not only does the chemical makeup of my work parallel that of a natural reef, but porcelain tentacles and the bodies of living corals share a sense of fragility that compels observers to look but not touch. by experiencing my work on a large wall, viewers may feel as if they are hovering over the seafloor and discovering details from every angle.