Ever since I was very young I remember two things one working with my hands doing arts and crafts and two playing in the mud. Becoming a potter may very well have been a natural progression. Clay holds, for me, an immense amount of possibilities. Never has an art medium held such potential and pathways to explore.

I had always wanted to learn how to do stained glass and a few years back a good friend taught me, but I found the process very difficult and time consuming with little satisfaction. After completing my associates degree I decided to take the time for a pottery class something I had always wanted to do since the night when I about 7 or 8 and saw a potters wheel in the basement of our minister’s house. The connection was made.

I have found clay a most receptive medium. The ability to produce something that is intriguing, interesting, and visually appealing in what feels and most often is a very short amount of time is extremely satisfying. For me clay holds such a vast expanse of possibilities where I have the ability to work on the wheel, slab construct, or sculpt any or all of which will yield the potential for my work to advance, grow, and change.

Another area of my life that clay has made a connection to is cooking. Cooking for years was how I made my living. This connection is not in the use of pots for but in following the recipes for mixing glazes. Glaze chemistry is a careful blend of chemicals in order to produce a dramatic effect on the clay body. Cooking and especially baking follows the same principles of blending ingredients to produce a chemical reaction creating something wonderful.