I fell in love with pottery when I was eighteen, and a potter demonstrating how to throw on the wheel asked me if I would like to try. A decade passed before I was able to realize my dream of working with clay, and like many potters, I started my journey by using a potter’s wheel. A shoulder injury led me to take up handbuilding, and what was supposed to be temporary became a lifelong obsession.
I enjoy working exclusively with slabs which are stiff enough to hold their form without sagging but are still pliable enough to curve. I make my own glazes as well as the slip which characterizes my work. I fire all my work to cone 6 in my electric kiln. If a vessel has an opening large enough to hold water, I test it to ensure that it is watertight.
Each morning, I wake up to a small collection of nineteenth century Japanese woodblock prints which inspire the simplicity and asymmetry of my work. Other influences include mid-century modern Scandinavian home design and abstract painting. I consider my ceramic work to be three-dimensional supports for small abstracts. More recently, I have begun to incorporate collage elements which I create by tearing small thin slip-coated slabs into strips. Making pottery is both a meditation and a joy.
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