'Using clay became a way to just make something, it represented the gesture I was longing for. I started to see my ceramics as monuments to my desire to make a sincere gesture, and the shame that came with it....For me, as a material, clay has always been about malleability as opposed to vulnerability. That being said, I incorporate the failure and fragility of ceramics by using broken fragments from previous works in the creation of new pieces. I like the opportunity for chance, the reclamation and recycling through materials. It becomes an autobiographical excavation, my own archaeology.' Sterling Ruby