The artist is particularly inspired by the Popeye theme having grown up in Red Bud, Illinois, a small town about thirty miles from Chester, the birthplace of Popeye. His connection to everyone’s favorite sailorman lay dormant until it was revived through this work, bringing with it fond memories of Budde’s father’s employment at the Sparta comic book factory and his enjoyment of the Popeye comic books his father would sometimes bring home. The artist believes that inspiration never dies, but has a way of lingering until the moment it is needed. He refers to this as his “artistic spinach”.

The totemic structure of Budde’s sculptural pieces creates a vertical hierarchy in the narrative while the strong graphic effect in the cylindrical vessels encourages the viewer to sequence around them. All the work is cone 5 stoneware with cone 08 low-fire glazes that the artist formulates and fires in oxidation.