Held: A Love Letter to Nature in Hand-Painted Ceramics
I don’t often write poetry. I usually gravitate toward clay and paint to express myself, but for Held, my new collection of ceramic platters, I’ve spent some time with words as well.
The collection explores finding yourself in the mystery of nature. In the ocean, among flowers—that’s where I’ve always felt the most whole. It’s where I find my femininity, my power, and a connection to something much bigger than myself.
I’ve always found this feeling a little mysterious. Why is it that surrounded by nature, where she has all the control—where she could sweep me away in one breath, one wave—I feel safe?
I feel held. Powerful. Full.
I am held. She is a place to rest. Beneath me, her ground. Around me, her breath.
Finding the feeling in clay
These feelings have found their way into the clay and the figures I paint: bodies resting among flowers, swimming through water, belonging to the world around them.
There’s something meaningful to me about working with earth to explore my relationship with Mother Nature. I shape the clay with my hands, forming a surface that will eventually hold a painted body, a garden, a small world.
My work has long explored femininity and power. In these pieces, I keep returning to women who are comfortable within themselves. They stretch out, swim, rest, and take up space. Painting them is part of my own search for that feeling.
The nude body feels natural here. Skin meets water, flowers gather around a figure, and the body becomes part of the landscape.
Five new ceramic platters
Held brings these ideas together through five handmade, hand-painted stoneware platters.
A hand-painted stoneware platter featuring a reclining woman surrounded by flowers. With her arms resting behind her head, she stretches out comfortably—a celebration of femininity, pleasure, and the power of feeling at home in your body.
I created At Her Leisure as part of Held, my love letter to Mother Nature. This figurative ceramic platter brings together my love of painting the female form and the natural world.
Handmade and hand-painted in my Long Beach, California studio, this floral serving platter brings original ceramic art to your table or decorative display
Handmade ceramic serving platter
Original hand-painted artwork
Light stoneware
Clear glossy glaze
Food safe
Perfect for serving or wall display
One-of-a-kind handmade piece
Approximately 13 inches
Whether used for entertaining or displayed as a work of art, This handmade platter brings the wonder, strength, and tranquility of nature into your home.
A reclining woman rests among flowers, her arms behind her head. This piece is about ease and pleasure—the quiet power of being comfortable in your own body and allowing yourself room to rest.
Green Gardens is a hand-painted oval stoneware platter with a rippled edge, featuring a dark green nude reclining among flowers. The figure’s color connects her to the surrounding garden, bringing body and nature together in a lush floral composition.
Part of Held, this piece explores finding yourself—your femininity, your power—within the natural world. I painted her resting among the flowers, completely at home.
Handmade and hand-painted in my Long Beach, California studio, this oval ceramic serving platter brings figurative art and botanical painting to the table.
Handmade ceramic serving platter
Original hand-painted artwork
Light stoneware
Clear glossy glaze
Food safe
Perfect for serving or wall display
One-of-a-kind handmade piece
Approximately 14 inches
Whether used for entertaining or displayed as a work of art, This handmade platter brings the wonder, strength, and tranquility of nature into your home.
A dark green female figure lounges among flowers at the center of an oval platter with a rippled edge. Her color draws her into the garden. I wanted the figure to feel as though she belonged to the flowers surrounding her.
An ocean-inspired stoneware platter with the words “I must be a mermaid. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living” painted around its edge. Quote by Anais Nin.
I created this piece from my relationship with the sea—the mystery of feeling safe in something so powerful that it could sweep me away. Part of Held, my love letter to Mother Nature, it celebrates the ocean as a place of depth, freedom, and belonging.
Handmade and hand-painted in my Long Beach, California studio, this mermaid quote platter brings coastal ceramic art to your table, whether used for serving or displayed in your home.
Handmade ceramic serving platter
Original hand-painted artwork
Light stoneware
Clear glossy glaze
Food safe
Perfect for serving or wall display
One-of-a-kind handmade piece
Approximately 14 inches
Whether used for entertaining or displayed as a work of art, This handmade platter brings the wonder, strength, and tranquility of nature into your home.
“I must be a mermaid. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.”
This quote by Anaïs Nin moved me deeply. It’s one of those lines you read that makes you feel seen in a way you haven’t quite felt before.
These words wrap around my platter’s edge, speaking to the pull of the ocean and the desire to live deeply. For me, the sea holds both comfort and mystery. I feel carried by her while knowing how powerful she is.
There’s something of that same feeling in choosing to be fully known. Radical honesty and deep vulnerability can be scary, but hiding or holding back my full self from the people around me frightens me more.
This piece is about that pull toward depth, in the water and in my life.
A large hand-painted stoneware platter featuring a minimalist face surrounded by abundant, colorful flowers. Swirling botanical forms gather around the central portrait, holding the face within a garden of color and movement.
I See Your Face in Every Flower connects my Lovers collection with Held, exploring how someone we love can become present in the natural world around us.
Handmade and hand-painted in my Long Beach, California studio, this large floral serving platter brings together abstract portraiture and expressive flower painting—a statement piece for your dining table or decorative display.
Handmade ceramic serving platter
Original hand-painted artwork
Light stoneware
Clear glossy glaze
Food safe
Perfect for serving or wall display
One-of-a-kind handmade piece
Approximately 15 inches
Whether used for entertaining or displayed as a work of art, This handmade platter brings the wonder, strength, and tranquility of nature into your home.
A minimalist face rests within swirling, colorful flowers. The blooms gather around it in abundance, almost embracing it.
This piece connects Held with my Lovers work. It explores the way someone we love can become present in the world around us—how a flower, a color, or a place can bring them close.
Swimmingly is a hand-painted stoneware platter featuring a swimming figure moving through painted water. This ocean-inspired design captures the joy of swimming, floating, and allowing the sea to carry your weight.
I painted this piece from my own connection to the ocean: salt on my skin, water moving around my body, and the feeling of being held by something bigger than myself.
Part of Held, Swimmingly brings coastal art and figurative painting to a handmade ceramic serving platter. Made and painted in my Long Beach, California studio, for serving, gathering, or displaying in your home.
Handmade ceramic serving platter
Original hand-painted artwork
Light stoneware
Clear glossy glaze
Food safe
Perfect for serving or wall display
One-of-a-kind handmade piece
Approximately 14 inches
Whether used for entertaining or displayed as a work of art, This handmade platter brings the wonder, strength, and tranquility of nature into your home.
A swimming figure moves through painted water. Swimmingly comes from the physical pleasure of being in the ocean: salt on my skin, movement around my body, and the moment the water takes my weight.
It holds the playful, buoyant side of my relationship with the sea.
Ceramic art for the table and home
I make and paint each platter in my Long Beach, California studio. Working across the curved surface lets the painting become something you can pick up, turn in your hands, and live with.
These are pieces to bring to a gathering, place at the center of a table, or display where you can enjoy the painting every day. All six designs are made from food-safe stoneware. They are dishwasher safe, though I recommend hand washing for longevity.
Held is a love letter, but it is also an ongoing exploration. I’m still finding words and images for the feeling of belonging to nature—for the ways she holds me, and the ways I discover myself within her.
The collection launches Thursday, November 5, at 9 a.m. Pacific.