Shipping and/or delivery methods will be discussed during the initial consultation of a custom piece or at the time of purchase for a ready-made piece. Due to the unique features & size of each project, delivery method may differ.

Absolutely. Contact the artist directly to schedule a free 30-minute consultation to discuss.

How much does a custom piece cost?

Cost will vary based on the scope of the project. A 20% non-refundable deposit is required up front to secure your position on the artist's waitlist; the remaining balance will be owed once the project is complete.

Once the custom piece is complete, if the buyer elects not to purchase it, the artist retains the rights to list the piece for public sale and/or gallery display.

When will I receive my custom piece?

The timeframe to complete a sculpture will vary based on the scope of the project, i.e. size, design, etc. Typically, pieces require a minimum of six to eight weeks to complete.

Please be advised that the artist maintains a waitlist for custom pieces.

You can reach me anytime via my email. I aim to respond quickly—usually within one business day.

dtrclaycreations@gmail.com

My practice draws primarily from direct experience — from time spent in gardens, on the water, on the shore, in front of buildings I keep returning to, and from the photographs and sketches I've made over nearly four decades of looking at how light and form behave in the world. Memory does a lot of the work. The weight of a swell before it breaks, the way late light rakes across a weathered facade, a peony heavy with rain, a particular silver of the sky — these live in me from being there, and they shape every piece I make. My own reference photographs anchor the studio work. Occasionally I'll build a digital compositional study to resolve a specific geometry or light condition I want to push further, the way a painter might work up a thumbnail sketch before committing to canvas. Whatever the starting point, every finished piece is sculpted, fired, glazed, and finished by hand. The reference sits upstream of the artwork. The artwork is the object in front of you, and the four decades of practice that made it possible.

Every piece starts as wet clay, worked by hand into a bas-relief sculpture — forms pushed forward, carved back, layered until the surface says what I want it to say. Once it's where I want it, the clay dries slowly (rushing this is how cracks happen), then goes into the kiln for a bisque firing. That first firing makes the form permanent.

From there, the surface work begins. Ceramic glazes go on and are fired a second time at high temperature, fusing into the clay as glass. Then I layer acrylic pigment on top of the fired glaze — the interplay between the two is part of what gives the work its depth and how light moves across it. The finished piece is sealed in epoxy resin, which locks the surface, adds dimension, and gives the work its archival finish.

Ceramic glaze, acrylic pigment, and epoxy — three materials working together on hand-sculpted clay, each doing something the others can't. Every piece is one of a kind.