Welcome

I began shaping clay in kindergarten, of course then it was green, yellow and blue, and smelled funny. Eventually I learned that the original inhabitants in the region had dug clay from creeks and fired it in their cooking fires. My brother and I began to make clay “artifacts”—animals, coins and small pots—that we fired in our barbecue pit, hid and later, as intrepid archaeologists, discovered. However, it wasn’t until college that I fell in love with the feel of my hands on the clay and the rhythm of the potter’s wheel. I have actively been studying and producing ceramics for close to twenty years; everyday I learn something new. Each time I open the kiln I am surprised; it’s like a gift, will it be an ugly pink sweater or that really cool toy you’ve been asking for. I have studied and produced ceramics in the San Francisco Bay area, Eugene, Oregon and on my travels in Europe. Today my work is inspired by my studies in folklore, as well as contemporary and traditional potters. My pieces have echoes of European architecture, the Bellarmine jars from Germany, feathered slip designs from England and Romania, the geometric designs of the American southwest, cave drawings, Russian folk motifs, the greenman from British mythology and the natural world. I hope you enjoy my pottery, as much as I enjoy creating it.

All art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster's autobiography. -Federico Fellini, film director, and writer (1920-1993)