I was born on the coast of Peru, amongst its dunes and sandy beaches. I drew inspiration from the spare beauty of it cracked and stressed desert landscapes, filled with vitality and vibrant spirit. This influence becomes more evident in the texture of my clay sculpture, where the surface so closely resembles a rugged desert landscape.
My work is figurative. Over the years I have explored different subjects, among them, the "Female Figure" and the "Seal". I find in both an endless source of inspiration, as forms and expression. My main intention in the creative process is to work with the material in such a way that I allow it to express its inner qualities. I let the clay speak for itself and rarely stray far from its natural tones. I consider it a successful piece when my intention, the subject and the material all speak as one voice.
I arrive to new ideas, sometimes, by chance...in one of my travels to my home land, I visited some islands and was impressed at the sight of hundreds of seals basking on a beach, their skins looked as if they were made of clay, dried and rugged like the desert landscape. I made my firt seal coming back from that trip and I haven't stop making them since.
My other passion over the years has been to create tile and mosaic murals. I work with clients in the design of these site-specific custom murals using a variety of tecniques such as painting on bisque commercial tile, sculpted relief tile or mosaic tile.
I had the opportunity to make several of these murals for the Arlington County Public School System in Virginia. Some of them were created with the collaboration of the students and installed in schools' hallways and cafeterias.
Just recently, I completed a mural for the Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Virginia. For this mural I made tile-mosaic shapes depicting the city of Fredericksburg. Each tile was sculpted individually and assembled together on the wall, as in a puzzle. |
