About

I have never considered myself to be an artist.  But, I
have always been drawn to beauty in words, music, nature, film, and
design.  As a younger person, I tried to express beauty through
writing.  After completing my BA and MA in English, I taught high
school.   As I got older, I found outlets in design, clothing,
food, and gardening.  But, it was never quite enough for
me.  I was still searching.  Searching for new ways to
express how I saw beauty in the world.  

Over twenty-five years ago, as a high school English teacher, I
decided to enroll in a summer ceramics class at my local park district. The
open studio class was held one evening a week for three hours in the senior
center.  None of the people in the class was a trained artist.  We
worked with low-fire clay and learned mostly through trial and
error.  I looked forward to taking the class each
summer.  After about 5 years, work, children, and life took me away
from my newfound artistic outlet.  

• Twenty-six years later, during Covid, I found
  myself taking extra long walks with my 14 year-old dog, Mickey.  As we traveled at a slower pace and explored new paths, I marveled at
  the changing seasons in new ways.  Free to
  wander for hours without needing to race home for carpools and school pickups,
  I started collecting natural found objects from the trails and roadsides and
  brought them home.   Walking by my children’s former school, I
  delighted in the shapes and colors of the ginkgo tree leaves that covered the
  ground.  I later learned that gingko trees drop all of their leaves in a day or
  two.  I had never noticed these beautiful trees and their sudden
  change from full trees to bare branches.  Often
  referred to as “living fossils” ginkgo trees have survived for millions of
  years.  In many cultures they symbolize longevity, endurance and resilience.  For so many years, Mickey
  and I had sat in the carpool line alongside these natural
  wonders.  Distracted by life’s schedules, I had never noticed the
  beautiful line of gingko trees just outside of my car.  Years
  after my kids had grown and become independent, Mickey and I shuffled along
  that same line of trees and took time to wonder at the
  gorgeous shapes and colors of the leaves that surrounded us.  I longed
  to capture the unique textures and colors I saw all around me and felt the
  strong pull to begin to create again.

In the summer of 2022, I enrolled in the same
park district ceramics class I had taken 25 years earlier.  On my
first day, I brought in a small collection of weeds, leaves, and wildflowers
and immediately began pressing them into the clay.  Seeing the leaves
and flowers dancing across the clay, I knew in that moment that I wanted to get
more serious about committing my time and energy to ceramics.  But, I
was a little intimidated.  I had never been formally trained or even
fired up a kiln.  After a year in the class, and encouraged by my
husband and children, my journey began.  I put together a small
studio in my basement and purchased a kiln. I have been actively working on my
art ever since.  In addition to my botanical ceramic pieces, I began
to design and create porcelain pieces constructed using textures from antique
crochet lace.  For next venture, I began to design and create bespoke pieces to memorialize
life moments (weddings, celebration bouquets, home flower and vegetable
gardens).  I also use heirloom pieces or interesting textures for the interior of these one-of-a-kind botanical keepsakes.

Gingko leaves feature in many of my
pieces.  My enduring search for artistic expression has taken shape
in my own form of living fossils: my botanic-inspired ceramics.  I
have aspired to create art that captures the everyday beauty we often overlook
in nature's simplest shapes, colors, and textures.