Artist Statement

After completing my Art education at New York University, I spent years as a painter on the East Coast, in the mountains of Tennessee and along the Great Lake in Ohio. It was in the high desert of New Mexico I stumbled into clay and found my medium.

I roll or throw a variety of stoneware clays including porcelainous clay into a slab, which is cut to shape, then joined or manipulated into the desired form. I also lay coils of clay on top of each other and blend them together to join them. To achieve the desired profile my forms are often constucted of both slabs and coils. Because after completing a piece I can always visualize another, I work in series of related forms.

Most pieces are glazed or stained with a combination of colors using a variety of application techniques. I am a painter again when at this stage of completion.

I fire in both a gas reduction kiln [no oxygen in the kiln atmosphere] and an electric kiln [with oxygen in the kiln atmosphere]. The properties of the clay and glaze or stain will dictate my choice for the firing method. While I make these choices the final decision is the result of how earth,water, air and fire are transformed in that firing. This is the excitement, the joy and at times the disappointment that clay alone can provide.

My handbuilt vessels are concurrently structured, intuitive and playful.