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I started with clay in high school, but let it go while I earned my B.A. in physics at UC Santa Cruz, After leaving graduate school, I got back into potting through community college ceramics courses. Returning to Santa Cruz in 1988, I continued developing my skills while working in a small student-run studio at UCSC. Overall, my education has been largely self-driven -- lots of solo studio time supplemented with workshops, courses, and a couple of studio helper jobs. It worked well for me, as I had plenty of time alone to figure out what I needed help with and some rewarding times with instruction.
My first studio, in Santa Cruz, was a small converted garage. I concentrated on raku firing -- mostly on unglazed pots brush decorated with copper matt glaze. Since I was sending these pots out into the world essentially naked, I became intent on throwing clean forms with a smooth surface. I also began working with crackle glazed raku -- ultimately refining a method of altering the usually random crackle pattern by heat shocking the work with droplets of water. As the results are visually striking, I quickly shifted my direction to working with crackle.
In 1993 I moved into a larger studio and "returned" to working with stoneware as well as raku. I've used quotes to emphasize that it's more than just a return -- it's coming back as a "grown-up" to something I loved as a student. It's been a challenge to come back to glazing with my simple un-adorned pots. I've been exploring decoration through form by adding carved and assembled accents to my large jars. My new work in blue and white provides a continuation of my earlier brush decorated work. I enjoy using the familiar background of designs to create my new functional work. It's a brand new game, and I like it !
I hope you enjoy my work. I welcome visitors to my studio, so if you find yourself near Crestline (in the San Bernardino Mnts.), please give me a call for an appointment and directions.