Fritz and Caroline on the Oregon coast
When I was young, my family purchased a pony named Mario. My father requested we call him “Daddy’s Last Dollar” at shows and events. Mario taught me and countless children how to ride, never needed shoes, and was never sick.
Over the years we had a handful of other horses; feisty Midge, sweet Dottie, and eventually too-smart Fritz who was my fellow pea in a pod. A willing quarter horse out of reining stock, Fritz took me all across in the little village of Corrales, NM and around the ditch-banks of the Rio Grande River.
We watched coyotes and roadrunners, found abandoned items aged in the desert sun, and spent many hours exploring anywhere and everywhere. Only once did he unintentionally throw me from the saddle and promptly run home. All my artwork and passion is influenced from my time with each horse, but especially Fritz.
While a biology major at New Mexico State University in 2011 pursuing a career in equine veterinary medicine, I decided to take studio art classes on the side as extracurricular credits. Just for the experience and fun. Many encouraging words came from professors and eventually, this accumulated in a Biology degree, a Fine Arts degree, and a Biochemistry minor in 2015.
Switching gears from a pursuit in veterinary medicine to fine art, I began a Masters of Fine Art degree at the University of Missouri. Eventually, I was drawn to the philosophy and spirit of the professors who worked in ceramics and quickly shifted to a focus in printmaking to ceramics and completed my studies in 2021. My mentors were Bede Clarke and Joseph Pintz.
Years away from horses in college and post-college life has left me with a longing that is only satiated with working in the ceramic studio on the clay horses. It reminds me of time spent in the stables being left sweaty and covered in dirt by the end and similarly wrestling with something (or some horse) into a desired image or relationship.
My body of work is comprised of small-scale tableaus of reflective horses. I focus on the beauty in simple objects that are often weathered or aged which reminds me of my childhood exploring on horse-back. These works are designed to be in homes adorning bookshelves, table-tops, and wherever else one might find room for art and the reminder of beauty.
I currently work at my growing home studio as well as at Pucker Gallery in Boston’s Back Bay which includes an amazing collection pots including the work of Shoji Hamada and Brother Thomas Bezanson. You can watch my recorded talks alongside artists and other experts on the Writings & Talks tab above. Outside the studio, I have taught sculpture at locations such as Harvard Ceramics where I encouraged students to work in sculpture outside the standard ceramic routine.
Caroline