About Waterman’s Lure

This group of work includes both wall and floor mounted ceramic sculpture,
inspired by Michael Allen’s excellent book Western Rivermen, 1763 – 1861 and the myth of the Alligator Horse. Wall hanging works like "Sweep and Pole" may recall artifacts related to the lives and occupations of watermen. The standing pieces also are based on objects, but suggest a figurative presence through their vertical orientation, tense balance and solitary presentation. Typical of the standing forms, Broadhorn is based on the image of an oversized steering oar, similar to those that were used to help guide the  flatboats that were the mainstay of the merchants shipping goods down the rivers of the Ohio and the Mississippi. The oars or “broadhorns” as they were called, were all that allowed the boatmen to control and direct the course of their balky craft, propelled by the still dangerous river. The lives of these men were particularly difficult and their willingness to undertake these journeys is interesting to me. I am also intrigued by the parallel between an actual voyage following an uncertain and dangerous course (the river) and the progress of an individual's life, moving often with anxious and little understood steps toward a hoped-for success or satisfaction.