The Chinese restaurant whose exterior was the inspiration for the story that is at the center of my work.The White Cat (1990) by Robert D. San Souci
One of my favorite picture books as a child, it showed me a world full of mysterious transformations and drew me in with its illustrations that helped my imagination run wild.My first grade teacher's porcelain cups
Their image may exist only in my memory now, but they were my first regular experience with porcelain and its marvelous subtlety.Ishtar Gate (605-562 BCE) in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin
The museum in general and the gate in particular showed me that the way fragments are displayed can make all the difference in making the distant past seem real.The Snow Queen (1845) by Hans Christian Anderson
The book from which I learned the potency of ice and eye-horror as themes in storytelling.Bill Waterson, particularly T-Rex Jet (1995)
Which showed me that silly things can be art and art can be silly.Convex and Concave by M.C. Escher (1955 lithograph)
Which taught me that confusion can be orderly and that an image doesn't need words to tell a story.Islamic carved window screens
I don't remember where I first saw them, but they suggested some possibilities of pierced surfaces that I had not considered before.Jurassic Park (1990) by Micheal Crichton
The extensive discussion of chaos theory in the book taught me that chaos is beautiful.Western Juniper trees, Sierra Nevada Mountains
Which inspired me to make some of my earliest drawings of nature for its own sake, rather than just decoration in the background.DIA Bag (1984) ceramic, by Marilyn Levine
Which made me realize that my love of things that looked like one thing but were actually another could apply to my art.The Garden of Earthly Delights (1490-1510) Hieronymus Bosch
The painting that taught me the delights of the grotesque and that discomfiture is a good thing in art."Silence in the Library," Doctor Who (2008)
This episode taught me the use of disembodied faces and their power to be both amusing and disquieting.Two Choson dynasty carved porcelain brush pots (1700-1800), Victoria and Albert Museum
Which were the original inspiration for the porcelain lace that I am making today.Sabriel (1995) by Garth Nix
A book that reminded me that the combination of beauty, creepiness, and silliness is a recipe for awesome.
