Although my professional career has predominately centered around fashion and apparel design, I have been passionate about ceramics for almost 15 years now. For me, ceramics has been yet another interesting medium to approach as a blank canvas to create art & designs on.
SAVAGE MUSE ABSTRACT ART PLATTER
This platter is a piece I painted on my birthday a couple of years ago. For me, going into a ceramic painting studio to paint all day is my kind of birthday celebration!
This platter is being featured on a new NBC TV show about crafting called "Making It" starring Amy Poehler-- I believe it will be airing this fall/winter.
CUSTOMIZED WEDDING GIFT CERAMICS
A wedding gift tradition I started about 15 years ago is to create customized ceramic pieces to reflect the love story and taste/lifestyle of the friends/family members getting married. I ask both of the people getting married a series of questions about how they met, their favorite food/dining experiences, favorite colors, travel spots, etc. Based on those questions, I choose a piece(s) of ceramic that is symbolic of their love/life and paint it to reflect their union.
AMOR Y ALMA WEDDING PLATTER
When my good friend and renowned Native Foods Chef & Healer, Felicia Cococtzin Ruiz of Kitchen Curandura was getting married a couple of years ago, I knew I wanted to create a special platter that she could use to serve special meals to her family for years to come.
I wanted to surprise her with the platter, so instead of sending her a questionnaire to figure out what kind of ceramic I should create for her, I took a look at her Instagram page and paid attention to what colors, patterns, and textiles she was using and featuring on her posts.
Based on the images, below, I came up with three different potential colorways and designs. I knew I would be limited by whatever paint colors and resources would be available for me at my local "ceramic painting" shop, so I didn't know until I went to paint the piece which of the three designs I would end up creating.
The final platter design reflects Felicia's Xicana/Latina and Native American heritage and the use of the Spanish words of "Amor Y Alma" which means "Love and Soul" were my way of honoring her marriage and wedding ceremony.
PROCESS OF PAINTING CERAMIC IN STUDIO
PLATTER FOR MAHFAM & CRISTOBAL'S WEDDING
When my Persian cousin, Mahfam (who owns an artisinal food/catering company called M.A.H.F) married her Chilean chef husband, Cristobal, I knew I had to design a platter for them that they could use for many years to come and feed family and friends their exquisite culinary creations. With a love of Spain and Spanish art from the mid-century as my inspiration, I created this bold platter as my offering to their love and union.
