As with nearly everyone else, the first thirteen years of my life made a formative impact on how I think, feel, and communicate. In my case these years were spent on a farm in rural Virginia that gave me a closeness to nature and animals that has never diminished.
There were no children ‘next door’, or anywhere near, to play with so my playmates and friends were the animals that I formed a bond with and the land itself. The faces of nature were an endless fascination for me and my maternal grandmother encouraged me through her efforts to express this in an artistic fashion. I diligently applied myself to paper and modeling clay.

It was on one of our early family vacations that I first saw a potter actually making a pot on the potter’s wheel. I felt inexplicably drawn to this creative effort and watched enthralled until I had to leave. This fascination drew me to any demonstration of pottery that I happened to run across. You would think that at this point I could have added up the points and decided that I should become a potter, but such is not the case. I struggled with 2-D media until I was in my thirties and was struck by the obvious epiphany.

I re-entered the college scene in my thirties with the intention of becoming a potter. My
enthusiasm for wood carving that I unexpectedly discovered in a required woodworking class, a delight in making the forms for casting jewelry, and my strong prior training in drawing gradually lead me toward the form that my pottery would take. I decided to combine as many of my artist expressions as I could into the media of pottery.

So now I have arrived at the point that I am carving pots with designs that I draw upon the surface on the thrown pot. This was and still is rewarding and enjoyable. However,
though I could portray the flowers and trees, the animals that I wanted to include in my work did not adapt themselves as well to this style. That was when I began to make the pot the animal and alter it and carve it accordingly. This started out in a rather crude fashion and progressed as I learned how to balance the various parts of the pot to give the desired effect.

To begin with my animal efforts were sort of something I did for myself on the side as I threw and carved pots to sell. For those, like me, who are not independently wealthy
making a living is of primary concern. At first I had to coach retailers to take my little animal vessels, but as time went on and I became more proficient, the animals became more popular. I hope to still grow in my craft and further perfect my work, but I am proud to present the vessels that you will find here.

I feel a continual bond with the animals and with the Earth in all of her many expressions.
When someone handles my work I want them to feel the echo of this bond in their own heart.