Statement


I grew up in New England, with few neighbors, on land hemmed in by woods and waterways. Those years were freeing and formative, with long days exploring on foot and by horseback, swimming in ponds and rivers. My early experiences with clay were in the banks of the river where we swam. It held a magic to me then, as it does now.

I continue to be drawn to the way clay’s immediacy and unpredictability inspire experimentation. I am driven by an intuitive process, which I attempt to support through the use of simple tools and techniques. I rework a small repertoire of objects that hold symbolic meaning for me. Those objects reference numerous sources: the rich history of self-taught art, material culture, personal narratives, and the landscape of the Pacific Northwest where I have lived now for nearly 30 years.

After twenty five years in Portland, Oregon, our family moved to Lopez Island, off the coast of Washington. This huge shift held a familiarity, like a return to the landscape of my childhood. Natural phenomena has returned to the forefront. With windows that face big sky, fields, forested lands, gardens and pond, we bare witness to the ongoing migration of animals and plants, the night sky, the complex world underfoot, and again the presence of wild clay. I look forward to the ways in which this land's vague familiarity shapes this next chapter in the studio.