Biography
My love of clay began at the age of 8 with the encouragement of a next-door neighbor potter. In high school, I learned to throw on the potter’s wheel and mix glazes; I bought my own kickwheel with money earned cleaning houses. In my early 20s, graphic design took my attention and ceramics were forgotten until I took a class at Palo Alto Art Center some twenty years later. This was followed by a workshop in 1998 with Coeleen Kiebert, who fused artmaking and ceramics with the psychology of the creative individual. For many years I took classes from Kiebert and early on was invited to teach her approach, while at the same time pursuing an academic art education in art history, ceramics, drawing, printmaking and foundry work at Foothill College, San Jose State University, and San Francisco State University through the first year of graduate study in ceramics. I taught at a number of California venues and in my own studio, while participating in regional shows. In 2006, I moved to the Portland area, where I established Clay Circle Studio and continue to show and teach. I show my work at Hanson Howard Gallery in Ashland, Imprint Gallery in Cannon Beach and Row Boat Gallery in Pacific City, and at other venues and exhibitions in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. In 2013, I was featured on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s “Oregon Art Beat”.