Pots are Rocks: Mugs, Plates, and Bowls

"this is (not) my home"
This mug is inspired by my research into my personal and ancestral relationship to settler-colonialism. The designs are of the innocence of early art experiences complicated by the non-innocence of living in/using this land as a settler. The clay these cups are made of developed in Nuwu territory over centuries. I have access to it because my people, Utah-Mormons, stole this land after fleeing violence and religious persecution in Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, New York, Britain, and Denmark. They survived these crises, but carried and spread their trauma on the Nuwu, Nuche, Diné, Goshute, and Shoshone. They spread that trauma in the ongoing forms of disease, desertification, war, and cultural destruction. and they never left.
<<<<<<>>>>>>
this is not the land from which my flesh emerged / this is not the place / my language evolved with / i am in love with this land / the land that raised me / i am in love with someone else’s homeland
<<<<<<>>>>>>
How do I hold a love that grew in a massacre site?
How do I become responsible to my ancestors and to the People whose land my body grew with/in?
<<<<<<>>>>>>
The horrific ongoing violences of settler-colonialism will not be solved today. Like this clay, they developed over centuries, but we all carry the capacity to sacrifice, work, and heal toward right relation with these lands. To have healthy relations with the land we must first acknowledge the deep relations of trauma we already have with this land and its peoples. We must start here.
<<<<<<>>>>>>
As a land acknowledge and move toward right relations with the people Indigenous to lands my people stole, I donate 10% of sales from my mugs to the See'Veets Eng (Shivwits) Band of Nuwu (Southern Paiute), whose reservation is on the margins of the town I grew up in.
This mug is inspired by my research into my personal and ancestral relationship to settler-colonialism. The designs are of the innocence of early art experiences complicated by the non-innocence of living in/using this land as a settler. The clay these cups are made of developed in Nuwu territory over centuries. I have access to it because my people, Utah-Mormons, stole this land after fleeing violence and religious persecution in Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, New York, Britain, and Denmark. They survived these crises, but carried and spread their trauma on the Nuwu, Nuche, Diné, Goshute, and Shoshone. They spread that trauma in the ongoing forms of disease, desertification, war, and cultural destruction. and they never left.
<<<<<<>>>>>>
this is not the land from which my flesh emerged / this is not the place / my language evolved with / i am in love with this land / the land that raised me / i am in love with someone else’s homeland
<<<<<<>>>>>>
How do I hold a love that grew in a massacre site?
How do I become responsible to my ancestors and to the People whose land my body grew with/in?
<<<<<<>>>>>>
The horrific ongoing violences of settler-colonialism will not be solved today. Like this clay, they developed over centuries, but we all carry the capacity to sacrifice, work, and heal toward right relation with these lands. To have healthy relations with the land we must first acknowledge the deep relations of trauma we already have with this land and its peoples. We must start here.
<<<<<<>>>>>>
As a land acknowledge and move toward right relations with the people Indigenous to lands my people stole, I donate 10% of sales from my mugs to the See'Veets Eng (Shivwits) Band of Nuwu (Southern Paiute), whose reservation is on the margins of the town I grew up in.

home shapes
These mugs are inspired by where I come from – land, family, home, mother. Lines connect the shapes like passing time and synapses of memory.
These mugs are inspired by where I come from – land, family, home, mother. Lines connect the shapes like passing time and synapses of memory.

floral home
This mug is inspired by my childhood home. The 70's floral aesthetic of the outdated decor I grew up around is deeply embedded in my mind and body.
This mug is inspired by my childhood home. The 70's floral aesthetic of the outdated decor I grew up around is deeply embedded in my mind and body.

"whose homes has your home displaced?"
Since the 1600's European settler-colonists have destroyed 90% of the forests in the continental US on Turtle Island. This forest consumption destroys the homes and life-ways of the peoples, plants, and animals who depend on these forests for survival. Often these forests are clears for to raise cows to eat and grow food for cows eat. Humans have become so successful at displacing animals and their habitats that humans and the mammals we eat account for 96% of the biomass of mammals on the planet. But not all humans contribute to this imbalance equally. Lands managed by Indigenous peoples hold 80% of the remaining biodiversity on the planet, though they are only 5% of the human population.
Since the 1600's European settler-colonists have destroyed 90% of the forests in the continental US on Turtle Island. This forest consumption destroys the homes and life-ways of the peoples, plants, and animals who depend on these forests for survival. Often these forests are clears for to raise cows to eat and grow food for cows eat. Humans have become so successful at displacing animals and their habitats that humans and the mammals we eat account for 96% of the biomass of mammals on the planet. But not all humans contribute to this imbalance equally. Lands managed by Indigenous peoples hold 80% of the remaining biodiversity on the planet, though they are only 5% of the human population.

settler-homes
The house designs are of the innocence of early art experiences mixed with the complications of living/using this land as a settler. The house is happy yet isolated. The grass is green yet flat. The sky is blue but framed.
The house designs are of the innocence of early art experiences mixed with the complications of living/using this land as a settler. The house is happy yet isolated. The grass is green yet flat. The sky is blue but framed.