Nature pulls me
everyday to the studio 

From the moment I first touched clay in college, I felt an undeniable pull—a resonance with the Earth itself. Its calm, yet demanding, nature became my teacher. Clay requires patience, presence, and an acceptance of transformation. Its fugitive qualities mirror life's own impermanence, while its grounding weight keeps me tethered to my inner voice.

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Over time, this dialogue with clay became the through-line of my creative life, shaping the choices I made and the solitary path I've walked toward understanding my own artistry.

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The sea has been my other great influence—vast, rhythmic, and endlessly adaptive. I have long been captivated by its living architecture: corals, sponges, invertebrates, and grasses, each evolving in delicate symbiosis, shaped by the currents and tides. To me, the ocean feels like the beginning of life itself, a place where all forms of life are in conversation. Using clay as my medium, I began to explore this living world, translating its textures, patterns, and movement into forms that feel both ancient and alive.

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Life's detours have only deepened my perspective. In college, I worked in the Department of Entomology, fascinated by the intricate beauty of insect life, and in the Department of Photography, where I learned to see the world through a lens of composition and light. Later, in Seattle, I joined a company representing deep-sea oceanographic instrumentation. There, I encountered the technology unlocking the mysteries of the deep and learned about the Atocha shipwreck in Florida, a treasure still yielding new discoveries. I remember the thrill of reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, my imagination diving into uncharted waters from which it has never returned.

~Heidi Jack