Andrew is a New York based ceramicist specializing in diverse functional design. Miller takes commissions on a limited basis. Inquire about his availability.

Statement:

My pieces are melting pots, made in a stew of sentimental forms, memories, customs and visual languages steeped together. I am also a melting pot. Matzo-ball soup served in a wide Chinese porcelain bowl. Ikebana in Indian Terra-cotta. Manischewitz meets Mingei. My ceramic work is an exploration and unfurling of the layers that make up who I am. Born and bred in the cross-cultural nucleus of New York City to a first-generation American of Polish, Jewish immigrants and an Oklahoman with a tinge of Native American blood, my ceramics practice reduces a boiling broth of cultural moments and influences into a delicatessen of prepared objects, unfamiliar to some but inexplicably home to me. Ingredients might include the comforts of: Wo Hop Restaurant in Chinatown, my mother’s depression-era tableware, my father’s Navajo ring, a 1920’s no-frills kosher deli, a kiddish cup, and my 3rd grade teacher’s Chawan. Just as a melting pot should, my work pulls elements together and gathers materials from ancient cultures and distant places. 

I find myself using materials rooted in one tradition, and aligning them with another. Similarly, the forms I create evoke a specific cultural note, remolded and dropped into an unlikely environment. How does a Native American pueblo form evolve when thrown on a wheel and made from Chinese Porcelain? Or can the Japanese art of Ikebana thrive in a bottle form inspired by and made from the terracotta clay of southern India? I see the possibilities of harmony in design and in community, a perfect marriage of ethnic opposites. A crossbreed of frontiers united in form, material and function. Asia to Zuni, naturally ingested, twisted, stirred and instinctually poured out.

My work is made in batches with the evolution of each piece becoming a part of a greater whole. I value the continuous repetition of forms across uninterrupted sprints. When possible, I source materials from local environments. I work with traditional tools from various cultures and build my own when they’re not available. As a part of my experimentation, I’ve used indigneous clays, firing processes, and techniques. I collect sundry, mismatched elements with the intent of bringing them together in new ways.

The intention is to make pots that touch the past, wink at convention, and invite everyone to the table. Bold, earthy, and lively pieces contain covert expressions of collected elements—mountains, thunderbirds, waves, seashells, high desert terrain and eggs; a process that I evoke through constant repetition, brush strokes, material exploration and overlapping glazes. Red tea in white porcelain tea cups take on the likeness of a halved boiled egg with a deep, orange yolk. An iridescent chinese rice bowl amongst hardworking tableware cozies up to a favorite mug, and emerges daily to serve fruit loops or pasta alla norma. A traditional teapot lives atop a stack of cookbooks and waits for takeout to arrive so that it can assist in serving a favorite beer. The mix of traditions that I intentionally brew within my work, bring joy and delight to the everyday, encouraging the dismissal of preconceptions and the acceptance of diverse cultures and lifestyles. 

My melting pots bring out the comforting flavor of coexisting.