"I set out to make this body of work in honor of my brother’s spirit of generosity, hospitality and adventure, making things you might need in order to feed people and make them welcome.  There’s also much of my own interest in humor, serendipity and mystery in the work.  The forms have a sense of elegance, architecture and structure, while the mindset behind the surface comes from a more impish part of myself.  Using my hand to mark the forms has become like a process of divination.  While the hand is the most immediate and personal tool we have, sometimes the resulting marks seem to come from a presence outside of myself, like a spirit conjured by a Ouija board." - John Utgaard