“The responsibility of a writer (or artist) is to excavate the experience of the people who produced him.”

-James Baldwin

Artist statement

Every piece I create, from the humblest tumbler to the most baroque sculpture, makes a statement about isolation, striving, access, perseverance, boundary pushing, and excellence. As a furnace glassblower, were I to only make vessels I would, without hesitation, call the product of my labor both Craft and Art. I see my labor at the furnace, regardless of the object I am making, as inseparable from my art practice. I believe my identity as a working class black man, operating in a field reserved largely as a puerile pursuit for society's most privileged (whitest), is a powerful artistic and political gesture. Furthermore, my drive to deeply understand the material and processes of furnace glass blowing coupled with my passion for teaching, in a social landscape where I have not been invited, welcomed or often seen myself reflected in, is an act of resistance and an artistic and political gesture twice over. I am carving out space for myself. I am claiming territory and opening doors for those who come after me. 

The topics I address in my work range from identity politics to the wild pursuit of joy through craft. Sometimes my work is about creating a narrative through the material of glass to convey my lived experience of living in a still unequal nation. At other times my work is about using the medium of glass to explore and move forward boundaries in two directions; the limits of the material itself and discovering the extent of my own ability with it. 

My work is rooted in aspiration, obsession, curiosity, and an uncompromising commitment to my craft. I want to know what the extent of my potential is. In order to be heard by a person you must know their language. In an institutional setting (museum/gallery/academia) it sometimes benefits me to adopt the language of the place. I’ll speak of my “practice” in terms that encompass the entirety of my professional life as maker/thinker. When I speak of my practice privately though I am referring specifically to the act of building skill through study and repetition. I’ll often produce dozens or hundreds of the same object in a quest to understand a specific technique. There is always room for improvement. I believe the path to that discovery is through practice. 

16th century Venetian stemware and pattern making greatly influence my work. Impossibly thin, precise studies of design and proportion, the artisans on Murano 400 years ago demonstrated true mastery. These objects, considered from rim to foot, are the product of the type of virtuosity that only repetition and dedication to a practice can produce. I feel an almost lunar pull to emulate the maestros of centuries past. Glass is no different than painting or sculpting. I study the finest examples from my field then I use what I have learned to express myself in my own unique way. First comes replication, then innovation.

My work is often heavily ornamented. I believe ornament can be the bait that lures curious viewers in and then asks them to consider the world from a new perspective. All ornament is functional. The function ornament performs is beauty. Beauty is a reminder of the good that exists in a sometimes ugly world.