Unsophisticated and unhurried is the way I play with clay. The hand-building techniques I employ, coil and pinch, are primitive and intimate. There is a private conversation with the clay when I create this way. Using vessels as my canvas, I delve into the concepts of movement, balance, weight and attitude while exploring sensual forms inspired by buds, blossoms, butts, busts, and bellies. These shapes will bend and guide the journey of the fire’s flame from the firebox to the flue in the wood-burning kiln. The fine clay slip that covers my vessels captures and chronicles the fire’s dance around each pot. Marked by ash deposits, carbon trapping, orange peel textures, and vibrant flashes of color, the interplay between naked clay and the kiln’s atmosphere narrates the unique journey of each vessel. In the end, my vessels become storytellers, recounting their creation and survival in the fire’s flames.