I grew up on my grandparents’ dairy farm in north-central Pennsylvania, riding horses with Mom and collecting rocks, bark, and dirt. My Dad lived on the Hudson River near the Adirondack Park, NY where I spent holidays and summers collecting more rocks, bark and dirt. I fell in love with ceramics when I began studying at the University of South Carolina in 1989. We made Massachusetts our home in 1990. Our family has since grown to include two more children, Shelby and Lily. Over the years I studied at the UMASS-Amherst and attended clay classes and workshops at the Worcester Center for Crafts. That’s where my clay met the wood kiln and I’ve never looked back. I’ve been an instructor at the Worcester Center for Crafts since 2004 until the recent pause in operations. I have participated in juried arts festivals throughout southern New England, New York and Pennsylvania. I continue to be intrigued by the process of making pots and captivated by the movement of soft clay in my hands, choosing which pots to fire, the rhythm of stoking a wood-burning kiln, each step a new experience. Firing with wood gives my work the soul and gravity worthy of their permanence. I create parts of myself to share, to enrich life’s everyday rituals with handmade art intended for use.
