ARTIST STATEMENT
[Click here for the saints’ biographies.]

Seven years in the making, this canon-of-saints began with a personal challenge to work differently in scale, technique, and materials. My initial goal was consistency: using the saints as a template to craft 26 small colored-figures with a limited palette of commercial underglazes, one type of clay, and a single firing for each. I quickly tired of all those limitations. I reached for every underglaze and glaze in my studio as well as every type of clay available: terracotta, porcelain, and other stoneware. I abandoned the notion of single-firing when I realized three or more were required to get the effect I desired. I mixed wall pieces with some larger, free-standing ones and deviated from my saints-only vision by including a few personal heroines. Liberated from my initial constraints, this project led me in a new direction. Researching an array of female saints and learning their biographies (some fact, some fable) became all-consuming. The more I researched, the more intrigued I became. I visited churches and shrines and sought out relics and artworks. I amassed a library of books and scoured the Internet. My canon-of-saints includes women whose lives I find inspiring, funny, ridiculous, or some combination of the three. Some are virgin martyrs who suffered for their independence, as well as their faith, because committing themselves to Christ meant refusing to be chattel to husbands, fathers, or brothers. They are also philosophers, authors, queens, princesses, theologians, adventurers, teachers, hermits, healers, military tacticians, heroes, mothers, mystics, musicians, potters, philanthropists, scientists, environmental activists, and even a Supreme Court judge. While diverse, these saints are united in their commitment to and confidence in their beliefs, as well as their courage to defend them. Profoundly influential during their lives and even to this day, these women laid the groundwork for the Women’s Movement and the #MeToo Movement. They would not be silenced, and they call on us to continue their legacy.