Clay has been Jana’s medium of choice since, as an undergraduate at the University of Iowa, she discovered how exciting it was to use. In a more than 30-year career, she has tried it in all its various forms. Earthenware, because it is fired in the kiln at lower temperatures, allows her to work with glazes of brilliant colors. Stoneware, more durable than earthenware, is beautiful and earthy. Porcelain, however, is the clay that captivated her. Porcelain is strong, pliable, pure, and a fine-grained clay that allows her to make very refined and delicate work.

Her ceramic sculptures make use of clay’s ability to drape and fold and take on myriad textures. It is a perfect palette for her ideas. Sometimes, she knows exactly what she wants to create before starting, as with her “Dress” series. However, most sculptures start with rolling out a slab of clay with a rolling pin. The creative process takes over somehow and she ends up with a new sculpture—all very quickly. Clay affords that spontaneity.

Jana also has an interest in recycling and her mosaics utilize her own broken pottery shards and other interesting found objects.

As a sculptor, Dave likes the immediacy of direct-metal fabrication and combining metal with a variety of other materials to create exciting and distinctive pieces. He describes himself as “born to build,” and explores the inherent relationships in seemingly disparate mediums to create works with vitality.

A well-equipped studio gives him a space outfitted to create all manner of work. He uses a metal lathe to make parts one can’t purchase because they are so unusual or rare. Band saws are used to make a variety of custom cuts to get just the right size for each piece. His plasma cutter is useful for hand cutting such materials as aluminum, brass, or bronze, which are, otherwise, difficult to cut. In addition to an oxy-acetylene torch, he has MIG, TIG, and SMAW welders so he can fabricate pieces using almost any metal. Finally, the forge allows him to heat, and then bend and alter, metals to produce an almost unlimited variety of shapes.

Over a more than 30-year career, Dave has created sculptures, both monumental and small, for indoor and outdoor use, and in mediums as diverse as metal, wood, concrete, plaster, glass, clay, and natural stone. Found objects are also a constant source of interest for Dave and they often become a part of many of his sculptures. He takes pride in the quality of his craftsmanship and the durability and originality of each piece he creates whether for site-specific commissions or custom orders.