Rob began having “fun with mud” in the winter of 2016-17 when he attended an introduction to ceramics class taught by John Langer at the Warehouse Community Art Center in Eagle River, WI. He quickly fell in love with the medium and soon found himself spending as much time as possible “putzing with mud” in the Langer Ceramics Studio. The first few years of his clay journey were almost overwhelming at times, as there were so many techniques to explore and new tools or gadgets to use!

After what Rob refers to as his “red squirrel on speed” stage, he settled down and began to explore hand-building geometric forms. Many glazes offer interesting color shifts on line breaks. Rob discovered that combining those glazes on the edges and corners of his geometric shapes created many opportunities for the glaze to subtly shift from one predominant color or shade to another. This led to further interest and exploration of applying glazes in such a way that they faded and shifted into one another without noticeable demarcation lines. Rob, for the most part, uses an air gun to spray glazes on his ceramic wares. This helps him “put” the glaze where he wants it, maximizing control over the thickness of the raw glaze application, offering the ability to shade and fade the glazes.

Another area of interest is combining other media into a finished piece.  Rob often includes glass, copper wire and most recently, has been incorporating Pine Needle Coiling to create truly unique artwork.  While Rob is slowly collecting all the necessary pieces to create a home studio - he still considers himself a hobby potter and loves being a member of the Warehouse Art Center’s Langer Ceramic Studio. He presently focuses on being deliberate in his creative process - attempting to do all he can to make the piece he sees in his mind physically emerge true to his vision.