Artist statement…

I make functional, wheel-thrown pots for everyday life. I love the creative process, the endless potential of clay, but I am driven to produce forms that are simple and purposeful. The forms evoke feminine feelings of grace and fertility and are meant to elevate the ritual of cooking, eating, and entertaining with friends. Each piece is made with a specific function in mind, planning the response to the rim of a cup resting on the lips or the gentle curves of a carved bowl nested in the hands. Botanicals - trees, roots, leaves, and blossoms - are a constant source of inspiration, as well as my background in art history, particularly modern and Asian art. I am drawn to abstract images and movement in modern art; the linear qualities and patterning in Japanese woodblock prints; and the ancient and contemporary calligraphy and rich tradition of ceramics in China, Korea and Japan.

After graduating from St. Francis High School in Louisville, KY, I studied ceramics at Penland School of Arts and Crafts in Penland, NC for a two-month concentration in 1998, focusing mostly on salt-fired and oxidation-fired porcelain with Leah Leitson and Susan Filley. In the spring of 1999, I traveled to San Miguel Allende, Mexico to study Spanish, batik, and silversmithing. I continued pursuing ceramics with Howard Gerstein and Chris Donald, while a student at Boston University, graduating in 2003 with a B.A. in Art History, and a minor in Visual Arts. There I also had the privilege of studying calligraphy with a world-renowned Chinese scholar, Professor Qianshen Bai. After graduating from Boston University, I returned to Penland again for a fall concentration in 2003, studying carbontrapping shinos under the guidance of Malcolm Davis and Kent McLaughlin. I continue to attend classes at Good Dirt, in Athens, GA, where I help manage the studio and teach children's and adult workshops. I am also a Post Baccalaureate student in ceramics at the University of Georgia with Ted Saupe and Sunkoo Yuh, working on my portfolio in preparation for graduate studies.