Biography
Originally from California, I moved to New York City in 2009 and was first introduced to clay at the Folk Art Guild, a residential artist community in Western New York. I felt an instant connection with the medium, and decided to leave my career as a media educator and activist in NYC to pursue an apprenticeship with Annie Schliffer in 2011. When I witnessed her firing the kiln for the first time, I knew that my journey in ceramics was just beginning. Continuing a lineage of Folk Art Guild craftspeople, I was trained on the wheel to throw a variety of functional forms, and learned every step of the process from making clay and glazes, to building and firing kilns. I continued on for five years as one of the resident Guild potters, making work in our community studio using the Folk Art Guild stamp.
In 2017, I moved back to the West Coast to Eugene, Oregon. Working out of Club Mud at the Maude Kerns Arts Center, I have been developing a line of functional high fired ceramics. I have continued making high fire functional work in a gas kiln and I have been firing wood kilns across the state of Oregon.
My education in ceramics has also been deepened through residencies and workshops at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina and Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Maine. My work has been exhibited in "Future of the Finger Lakes Emerging Artist Exhibition" in Vine Valley, NY in 2013 and 2014, and "The Almighty Cup Show" by the Gandee Gallery in Fayetteville, NY in 2015. I was also the Emerging Artist at the Western New York Pottery Festival in 2014. My work was most recently selected for inclusion in the juried exhibition "Strictly Functional" in 2016.
From my first contact with clay, I fell in love with the tactile nature of the medium. I like to explore texture and form in my pottery, both in the construction of the pot and in the surface decoration. I strive to create imaginative but functional pieces that are firmly rooted in organic forms and surfaces, which has led me to develop two distinct bodies of work. In my Crackle Ware I use a bead glaze over a dark blue slip for decorative surfaces with a varied texture, applied alongside a smooth white satin glaze. These pots are high-fired in a gas kiln. In my Slip Ware, I use a technique called slip trailing in which a liquid slip is applied to leather hard pots in a variety of decorative patterns, and I fire it in the gas kiln with a matte cream/rust glaze. I have also been developing a body of work that emphasizes form and is fired in a wood kiln, using the atmosphere to create a more spontaneous surface.
