CH // What are the inspirations behind your current body of work?
 
WS // My inspiration is usually a reflection of what I am experiencing. I have big feelings and I've realized I can use this as fuel. Clay is my conduit to connect and alchemize my emotions. Each piece indicates a moment in time and has its own specific meditation on the many experiences in life. The serpent vessel for example is representative of the year the snake; the year we currently find ourselves. Snakes represent regeneration, renewal, rebirth but have gotten a bad rap over the centuries. The original connotation of this animal was sacred and the symbol for healing. In my opinion, they remind us to move with grace through the rapid change we are all experiencing. They morph and change, literally outgrowing their former skin. It's incredible if you apply their shifting modalities to how we can approach our own big and scary changes. 

CH // How has the California landscape and culture influenced your work?

WS // Great question. I have never connected California's culture or landscape to my work because I am from Michigan originally but it seems quite evident now that I am considering it. I immediately think of the food culture here, a paring down with real ingredients; basic, beautiful components that are offered simply so we can taste their full flavor without an oversaturated influence. My work exemplifies this with a simple yet bold palette and many studies on form. California is rugged and also polished, a simultaneous contrast from sea to desert to city and mountain. I could say the same of my work as I approach each piece with a harmonious sensibility, both carefully crafted and a bit undone. 

CH // When you launched Latch Key in 2014, what was the vision you had for it? How has that evolved since you started?
 
WS // It was a rebellion of sorts, with the urgency to make something in stark contrast to the digital world rising around me. I was noticing with all of the CNC and laser cut works popping up, the hand was becoming invisible. More plastic and synthetic fibers everywhere. As a person who studied both textiles and ceramics, it felt important to bring back the hand and to be intentional with the materials I used. The term sculptural future was all over my writings. In hindsight, it seems important to note that the critique of what was lacking was the inspiration. The next step, arguably the most important component here, was utilizing the creative rebellion as fuel. This shepherded my work via a slow trajectory, into something more aligned with what I wanted to see in the world. 

CH // You’ve described your work as blending craftsmanship and ceremony. What do those ideas mean to you, and how do they show up in your pieces?

WS // I may be getting a bit personal here but there is no way around it. I was raised Catholic, no longer practicing. Organized religion never really leaves you even if you leave it, or at least it's true for me. Something that has stayed with me are the ways I was taught reverence. The ceremonial aspects of that religion offers reverence to holy things as symbols via sculpture and architecture, with candles, and elemental prayer. I still work with the elements in reverence, but in a way to honor myself, my feelings and experiences at large. Clay is a vehicle for both ceremony and craftsmanship. Clay is composed of water and earth, finished by air and fire. What could be more reverent as an elemental prayer? As for craftsmanship, I can't help it but I am obsessive and particular. I like beautiful things that are well made and that is part of my driving force in my work. I am growth oriented, not interested in perfection but instead of stretching into and being humbled by the medium. 

CH // What were some of the biggest challenges when shifting from creating small items (like clay jewelry and planters) into larger, more sculptural work?
 
WS // Myself! I didn't believe that I could make a living making large scale ceramics. I felt safe marketing cute little things and only when people began asking to buy my larger works did I realize that making from your heart vs from what you think people want is how to move forward. Truth over safety. 

CH // When do you feel most creative?
 
WS // Creativity abounds in every moment; I have so many ideas, it's more about time and resources. I sometimes can't fall asleep because new silhouettes will appear as I'm drifting to sleep and know if I don't get up to draw them, they will be forgotten in the morning. The ideation process is the easy part. Clay is a multi step process with many opportunities for failure. The ideas never stop but the production and reality is where it gets tricky. I daydream sometimes of collaborating with existing brands, designing shoes, clothing and interiors. I would love to come up with a design, hand it to production and help them from a far to figure it out. 

CH // Tell us about one of your favorite pieces.
 
WS // One of my favorite pieces in the collection with Croft House is the Boundary Vessel. I made this piece in 2020 and had to keep it until now! It's playful, with the rings available for movement and I appreciate the sound the clay makes as it moves against itself. The idea of boundaries not being a negative thing but an open opportunity to play and explore within bounds was the main approach to this piece. I was understanding boundaries within myself at the time and this piece is the 3 dimensional form of my interior thoughts. 

CH // How do you decide when a piece needs a bold moment of color versus letting raw texture or natural clay be the star?
 
WS // Intuition.

CH // Do you begin each piece with a clear vision, or is it a more intuitive process?
 
WS // Both, it just depends on what is going on in my life, the world, my business. When I start working on a new form, I might have a silhouette in mind. This could be inspired by a negative shape I see in a textile or in the world, a concept or feeling. I will translate it into a sketch and then approach it with intuitive practices I've developed in the 20+ years of playing with clay. Many times as I am working, the clay indicates it wants to be something else by slumping or cracking and I respond by changing the shape. If I am dead-set on the original idea, I will consider new ways to approach it more gently and start again, letting the 1st piece be who it wants. Other times the silhouette will easily come to life and then I will have a spark of 5 other variations come to mind, which I will sketch immediately and return to the original idea to finish it. Usually this process will keep me going for a month of making, exploring the endless possibilities of form. If I don't sketch what the original idea was, it will likely turn into something quite different so I wind up making little clues for myself when I return to the piece. This will result in clay covered paper and a bunch of strange little drawings.